Welcome to Wherever You Are
by MeredithBrody
Summary: When Pride is captured by a local terrorist cell, the team must work with new faces to try and find him. (Torture included)(Eventual Prody)(28 chapters)
1. Chapter 1

**Alright friends and followers, this is my latest fic, but it comes with a list of warnings. I wrote this for the April CampNaNo, and specifically for the "push yourself" challenge. This fic contains a large amount of torture and general unpleasant things, starting right here in the first chapter. So I think that it's important you know that. I won't be offended if people don't want to read this one. _It is eventual Prody fluff, I promise._ Now that is out of the way and people who want to read are still here... this is the prologue, and it sets up the fic. I hope you enjoy, and please read and review. As always. **

* * *

_**Day One**_

The room was dank and dark and smelt like mold and wet dirt. He had no idea how long he'd been strung up here, but he was betting on many hours, if not pressing in on a couple of days. He was hungry and thirsty, and this constant darkness had completely ruined his sense of time. Now he was just waiting, desperately wanting to know what was going on.

Faces briefly swam through his mind. Laurel and Linda first, he wondered if his daughter knew he was missing, if his ex-wife even cared. Then his team, Christopher, Loretta, Sebastian, Patton... Meredith. He wasn't sure why Meredith's face stayed in her mind longer than anyone but his daughter, but he was glad that he did. They'd been moving toward something personal over the last few months, but he hadn't questioned it at all and seeing her float in front of his mind made her happy.

Trying to remember how he'd come to be here was a lot harder than expected. His memory seemed to have giant holes. That generally meant that he'd been drugged. How he'd been drugged he didn't know. All he remembered was that he'd been talking to his agents about an Isis cell. Then he was planning to look at it with Christopher LaSalle. That was where he had been heading the last time he remembered.

 _Brody looked through the files, and all that he was doing was watching her as she took in this new information. It had been new information to all of them, but he hadn't been as surprised as Christopher had seemed, and now how Brody looked. She read through the file and then looked up at him, clearly needing to know why. "I didn't know Isis were active in Louisiana?" She asked, and he had to think seriously for a moment. How did he tell her that they were spreading their interests all over the world._

 _"Isis are active everywhere right now." Christopher managed to say exactly what he wanted in probably a better way than King probably would have. Now that she knew, she'd know why he was calling in every favour that he possibly could. Most of which would bring in help._

 _"Brody, you stay here and manage the information flow." He ordered, knowing that that was what she was good at. He already knew that the Navy was sending some help, and probably the FBI would send someone. "Addie Watkins is coming in to help smooth things over with the Navy."_

 _"Where are you two going, King?" She asked, and that wasn't entirely surprising. She had so much to do right now herself._

 _"To learn about these violent traitors." He said, nodding at Christopher who walked out the door after kitting up, who clearly understood that giving his two colleagues a moment alone was for the best. He looked at Brody, and she just looked concerned for him._

 _"Be careful." She said, looking at him seriously. It was obvious she really was worried about him. There were things going on between the two of them that he couldn't entirely understand. Soon enough the two of them would figure things out, but for now he was happy with leaving things ambiguous._

 _"I will." He told her, and she smiled a little more at him. He was slightly touched that she was as worried about him, especially given everything that was going on at the moment. He wasn't going to let anything ridiculous happen to him, especially when she was worrying about him._

That memory told him more than he expected, and all of a sudden a door opened and the light that filtered into the room almost blinded him. He tried to make out details but couldn't, it was too bright, and he hadn't figured out exactly what he was looking at.

He didn't understand the language being spoken, he wasn't entirely certain which one it was either. What he did know was that trying to talk was going to be the best course of action. Maybe one of them would slip up, maybe one of them would let him know some information. He was certain that they were all quite new, they weren't trained, so being inexperienced they would make mistakes. That was what she wanted to know.

"Where am I?" He asked loudly, causing the talking to stop almost instantly. The door was still wide open, and the light streaming through was stopping in from seeing clearly. He could see that there was three people there, but couldn't see too much of any of them in detail.

"Shut up. Eat." He blinked a few times and he slowly started to be able to see better. Between the three people in the room one of them seemed to be confident, and in control. This situation didn't faze him. The other two seemed much younger, and much less comfortable and confident.

"I need to know where I am." He repeated, and was already certain that they wouldn't answer. One of them sounded quite calm, but the other two still seemed jittery. he wondered if maybe one of them would give in. Unfortunately it seemed that the confident one, the one who was in charge, spoke first, and the rest of them let the confident one talk.

"It doesn't matter. Eat." The snap was hard, and instant, and cold. It was obvious that they weren't going to add any additional information, no matter how much he wanted it to happen. So far, not one of them had screwed up, and he was losing hope.

They walked out of the door again, leaving him in the dark. At least the darkness made it easier for him to see. He was very glad to see that he had been left with actual food, and being on the floor was, at least, much more comfortable than where he'd been hanging for the last god knew how long.

Now, he needed to eat, and drink, then he'd be able to think of a way to get out of here. Sure he still didn't know where he was, and he wasn't at all sure that he'd be able to get out, but he was going to try. He knew though that his team would be searching for him, and they'd call in all the help they could. He was going to try and escape, and hope that his team were ready to meet him when he did.


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, I got an amazing response to the first chapter of this, thank you all so much for that! I wasn't sure that people would be quite so excited for it as you apparently are. So that's cool. Anyway. This is a LaSalle POV chapter, and you have no idea how hard it was to get into LaSalle's head. As always, please read and review.  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day One**_

There was sand in his lungs, in his throat, in his nose. Essentially everywhere. There was sand and pain. He had no idea where he was either. He tried to piece his knowledge back together, but there were huge, enormous gaps in his memory. He remembered his name, his profession, but very little else.

He started walking in the only direction he saw any buildings, following his feet. All the while realising that it was likely he'd been drugged. He was thirsty and hungry, and he had no idea where he was. Walking and walking until he saw a familiar sight, a cop car. He just walked up to the window and tapped on the window, giving his name and position before his legs gave out under him.

A few minutes later he was being helped into the office, and feeling a little better just from being there. He felt comfortable just from being here. Knowing that there were people who cared about him here. Seemingly noticing that someone had come in, Brody came through from the kitchen. "Oh my god, LaSalle!" She shouted and ran up to him, wrapping her arms around him for a second then stepped back.

"This one of your missing agents, Brody?" The officer asked, one that LaSalle hadn't managed to catch the name for, or maybe he had and he'd forgotten. All he knew was that right now he was confused mostly, and a little concerned. Missing agents?

"Yes, thank you." Brody confirmed as she stepped away from him, squeezing his shoulders as she did. Clearly she was relieved to see him, and that told him that she'd been worried, he looked around expecting King to be coming to find him, when he realised that if Brody was there then the other missing agent was King.

"We'll keep the search up for the other." The cop said, handing a card to Brody, but all LaSalle could do was stand there and shake his head. He wasn't sure how this was really happening.

"Brody?" He asked as she put her hand on his back and moved him through the office and the kitchen to the courtyard, sitting him down on one of the benches. She clearly wanted to be able to give him some good news, but equally clearly couldn't.

"What happened?" She instead asked him a question, pulling a chair in front of him, probably to make it seem less like an interrogation, or maybe she just realised that looking up at her wasn't going to make him want to look up at her. Sitting was definitely easier.

He just shook his head. He didn't want to try and say something, especially if it could then distract from them finding King. He really didn't remember very much. There were snapshots, that's all. Nothing concrete, and nothing that made very much sense. "Not sure. Drugged, I think."

"You were drugged?" Brody asked, and he shrugged. He was operating under the assumption he'd been drugged, but he wasn't actually all that certain. He didn't feel like he'd been in a fight, but that didn't necessarily mean very much. It was not something guaranteed, that was for sure. "What's the last thing you remember."

"Me and King, checking out the last place Dan Holer had been." Their last victim, a former marine. That was all LaSalle remembered about him. He should have known more. He was certain that he'd known more at one time or another.

"Yeah. The track road." Brody supplemented more knowledge, and suddenly that explained the sand when he'd woken up. He assumed that couldn't have been where he'd been though. If he had been missing, the point where Holer had been would have been the first place that Brody would have had NOPD look.

"I remember a van." He squinted, probing his recollection. There had to be something else, he was sure. She was depending on him, they all were. Especially King. King was depending on every one of them, otherwise how was he going to get home? "That's it."

"At least you remember something." Brody placated him, but LaSalle knew that's what it was. He wasn't actually being all that helpful. He was barely helpful at all. It just wasn't easy to think this all through. There were such big gaps in his knowledge, and his memory. Maybe it would come back, if he was lucky, and he'd be able to answer more.

Then Laurel ran into the room, clearly having heard the voices, and ran straight to LaSalle, wrapping her arms around him. That was just what he needed, and she made him feel better about being there. "Christopher!" She exclaimed squeezing him slightly then dropped down to sit beside him.

"I'm OK Laurel, really." He tried to reassure her. He'd been part of her life for a long time. She probably needed his support as much as he needed hers right now. Just like her dad, Laurel could make him feel calm when nobody else could.

"Good. What about dad?" That question caused Brody to grimace slightly, and he wondered how she was coping with this. She and King were very undefined and very private, he knew that, but he couldn't imagine it was easy for her to be doing this.

"NOPD are still looking." Brody looked between them both, and he realised that Laurel was beginning to freak out, so he put his arm around her back and squeezed her gently. "Look, don't panic Laurel, mind looking after LaSalle."

"You alright?" She brought him a cup and a plate of food, both of which he hadn't realise he needed but he did. He wolfed them both down before he looked at her again and remembered her question. Was he alright. He didn't know. That didn't seem like an acceptable answer, so he thought of something to say.

"I'm worried about your dad." That was true, and as he said that Laurel sat down beside him and took hold of his hand, entwining their fingers as she did. It was a friendly gesture of support, and he hadn't realised how much he needed that until this moment. He ended up leaning sideways and resting his head on her shoulder lightly for a second, trying to recharge a little. Now he'd eaten he was sleepy again, which made him realise that it didn't seem like they'd been gone long.

"I am too, but Merri has been amazing." Laurel's praise of their latest recruit did make him happy, they'd picked a good fit for their office with her, and knowing that she could take control in an emergency was good.

"What time is it?" That question had been bugging him. The sun was still high in the sky, but everyone was acting like he'd been gone for days. That made this all very disconcerting.

"A little after 3pm." She answered, and he wondered why he'd been so hungry. He'd eaten not that long ago, and that had been better than what he'd just eaten, but that had probably been because what he'd just eaten would have been microwaved.

"Tuesday?" He asked, they hadn't been gone that long, why had they been reported missing. It had only been a few hours since they'd gone to look at the last place Holer had visited.

Laurel shook her head, and that was when he realised that there was more wrong here than he'd anticipated. He wasn't really sure what he'd anticipated though. He was just too confused about everything. This whole situation. "Wednesday. You've been missing more than 24 hours. Where were you?"

"No idea." He shrugged, hating giving her that answer. She desperately wanted to know there was some easy way for them to find her father, but he couldn't give her false hope. He wanted for them to find King too, but that wasn't going to come from his witnesses testimony. That would come from their work. "I just started walking 'til the police found me."

"Smart move." Laurel squeezed his hand again, and he was glad that she was still holding his hand. It was the connection to someone else that he hadn't known he needed until now. Maybe it was making it back to learn he'd been missing, and that his friend was still missing.

"Alright, we've sent a team out to where they found you, I'm gonna take you back out there so you can retrace your steps." Brody was definitely completely in control of all of this, which was only increasing his confidence that things would work out somehow. She acted like she knew what she was doing, while LaSalle had no idea what he was doing.

"Brody I don't know where I was." He argued again, knowing that whatever the problem was, he wasn't going to be able help them learn anything by giving them incorrect information. He could hamper the investigation if he sent them in the wrong direction, and that was the last thing they would need, and King would need.

"We'll do some guided imagery. Then I'll take you by a hospital." That probably wouldn't be as fun as it sounded, he was sure of that. He almost didn't want to leave again, but if this would help then that was where he could be. "Laurel, can you stay here with Patton and call me if there is any news about your dad." LaSalle had to admit, he was glad that right this moment Brody had taken control of the situation, because he wasn't sure he could. He gave Laurel's hand another squeeze then started off out the door after Brody. Hopefully this would help them find where King was.


	3. Chapter 3

_**So, guess who just rewatched the last 6 episodes of the season? Yep, that would be me. How strong a season run-in was that! I was happy they finally gave LaSalle a little depth, though I'm probably going to be forever pissed about Savannah. Anyway, on with the story. Brody's first POV chapter in this fic, and it sets up for the rest of the fic. Anyway, as always, please read and review!  
Shin xx**_

* * *

 **Day Two**

Brody was still staring at the paper in front of her, but after hours of doing this she was beginning to not see the words. She was exhausted, and that wasn't helping. Her mind kept slipping to that night a month earlier. That night that she and Pride had gotten drunk and finally given in to the tension that had grown between them. They had gotten together every few days since, and she knew that she'd fallen for him, and she'd never told him, they barely spoke about their nights together. "What have you been doing all day?" Came a voice just in time to distract her from her maudlin and slightly ridiculous thoughts.

"The NSA sent a list of terrorist chatter for the last week." She pointed to the stack she'd managed to get through already. She had been given permission to read the unreadacted files before they were destroyed. They needed to know who would be the most likely to have him.

"You went through all that?" He asked, clearly not believing how much she could get on when she wasn't struggling with other cases. She'd hit the ground running in the search for him and Pride, and she was going to keep that going as long as Pride was missing. She missed having him here to push her, make her think more, think better.

"Yeah, I'm a fast reader." Brody commented, looking over the size of the stack and she was proud to be able to say she'd read almost the entire stack, and he as clearly not sure at all how she'd done it.

"I'm sure." She could sense his sarcasm, but right now she wasn't in the mood for being tease. She pulled out an energy bar, something she'd also had to get used to. Pride somehow always managed to put their food in boxes. He hadn't had the chance this time, and that meant their entire team was going hungry.

"There is one set, look." She pulled a piece with a big blue mark out of the stack in front of her. It was a document that contained the manifesto of a local terror threat. They weren't taken seriously, but they had been talking about kidnapping a high official. The problem was, NSA hadn't taken it seriously.

LaSalle wasn't sure, clearly, about what he was seeing. To her it was obvious, what he needed to think about and do, but she was certain that he'd see it, apparently her belief in her colleague possibly hadn't been earned. "What am I looking at?"

"This is a local terror cell who are talking about taking a high figure." She sighed and put the file back on her desk and placed her head in her hands before explaining. "The NSA discarded it because they pretty much only operate in Louisiana and aren't claimed by any of the bigger organisations." She had run tests, not one of the big organisations had any ties to this little team, so they had planned this meticulously.

"Right." He was still clearly skeptical of what she'd found, but she was certain, she knew that she was right. OK, so she didn't know, but she was certain. There were facts of this case LaSalle didn't know, and didn't need to know. She really didn't want to burden him with those particular facts either.

"The likelihood is it's them." She was certain, Addie Watkins agreed when she'd come to check in. When she called the FBI she'd get their opinion, but she was absolutely certain that it was this local cell.

"Why are we jumping straight to terrorism?" LaSalle asked, and normally it was a good question, but given what they'd received a few hours after she'd reported LaSalle and Pride missing almost 44 hours ago she knew. It was guaranteed.

"Because of the note we got while you and Pride were both missing." She hated that note, but it was also their biggest clue.

"You never told me about a note." He looked at her accusatorily and she had to remind herself for a moment why she'd kept it back. It wasn't a good idea anyone else read it. At least, nobody associated with the NOLA field office. The threats were specific, and they were very graphic.

"Didn't think you needed to see it, I still don't think you need to." She actually knew he didn't. The threat contained to all of them in the note was something that was going to haunt her dreams for a long time, that was why she hadn't slept.

"Brody." It was a cross between asking and warning, but she definitely wasn't going to let him read the note. It was not something that he needed to read.

"LaSalle, will you trust me on this one." She wanted him not to play games with her. She wanted him to trust him, and let her run this. He wasn't in the right place to do it anyway, not that she was in a much better place herself. But trusting her was one simple thing that she could ask of him.

He studied her a few seconds, clearly trying to decide why she was doing all of this. She kept eye contact until he nodded, clearly deciding that if she was holding it back from him she was doing it for a good reason and it was best to listen to her. "Alright, what should we do."

"We need help." She made that pronouncement knowing that LaSalle wasn't going to like it at all. He scowled, and she knew then and there that she'd been right. He hated that idea.

"I could call in Gibbs and his team." LaSalle replied, and while Brody knew and trusted Gibbs, and therefore trusted his team, they weren't right for this. It needed to be someone who wasn't connected to Pride in any ay.

"I was thinking someone outside of NCIS." She saw the look of mistrust in his eyes, and she wasn't surprised. There was a rivalry between all the federal agencies, and while NCIS and the FBI mostly got along, there were notable exceptions. She knew his thinking, Pride was an NCIS agent. That was exactly why NCIS was too close. someone else should run it, and the Counter-Terrorism Rapid Response teams seemed like the best choice. "I have a few friends in the FBI, we could get authorisation for them to help."

"Really, the FBI?" He muttered sarcastically, leaving her to point out why they needed someone else to come in and do it.

"We're too close to this Chris, both of us." Pride was such an important person in their lives. There was a simple name for what he and Chris had. What she had with him, that was much more difficult to define. "He's my... you know." She left that hanging, not wanting to give anything away. LaSalle though was easy. "He's your best friend."

"Maybe you're right." He admitted a few seconds later, and she just looked at him with a frown. She knew she was right.

"It'll probably take them a day or so to put a team together." She hadn't worked with them in a long time, and while they were rapid response, for cases like this they would take a day to research. Which was exactly what Brody intended to do too. "In the meantime we go about tracing him, maybe we'll crack the case and not need them."

LaSalle looked at her, and she saw the worry and the fear in his eyes, something she shared. She missed Pride too, and she wanted him back. "Do you really think we'll get him back Brody?" There was a note of sadness in his voice, and all she could say was what she knew, that the statistics were in his favour.

"It's been 48 hours, we're heading into day three, and with terrorist kidnappings that gives him a good chance." She reeled off before she even realised that it might be unusual knowledge. She only knew that when LaSalle gave her an unusual look.

"I kinda like that you just know that." LaSalle smiled, and she grateful for finally having a use for at least some of the random facts in her head. There were a lot of them, and at least this one had given LaSalle a reason to look up.

"I tend to know random statistics." It was actually something that annoyed a lot of people, but it worked for her, and she liked knowing all these things. In situations like this, the most random of things she knew were helpful. "It's what I do the crosswords for. Information retention."

"I might have to start doing that." He smiled at her, and she knew that sometimes she knew random things, but in this situation they were helpful. She was still thinking about the chances when LaSalle did something she hadn't really expected. "Alright, call them in." Brody nodded when he said that, and set off up to the main contact hub for their bosses in DC. While Brody was sure she and LaSalle could have handled it alone, the simple fact was they were both too close to this. She cared too much for King to truly be objective, and LaSalle was even less likely to be objective than she was. So having someone who didn't care about King the way they did was the best thing they could do for him.


	4. Chapter 4

**So! I keep being asked when I'm going to update this one so here goes nothing! I'm glad people are enjoying this story so far, it starts to pick up steam in this chapter. So, this isn't too much, but it's really only the beginning, please read and review.  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day Three**_

How long had Pride been in this room? He had no idea. It could have been days, or weeks or months. He didn't think it had been months. But it could have been a week, or more he had faith that his friends would eventually find him, but he was still afraid, and he was a little banged up from his first day here. he had realised then that he shouldn't speak. The last couple of days he'd had nothing, and it hadn't made much sense to him.

Today though, that far door had opened, and Pride, disoriented, hungry and uncomfortable knew that things were just gonna get worse. He knew that some things had to happen, this was not one of them. "Get up." Was barked at him, and he tried to follow the instructions, but then he realised that he could postpone them.

"Why?" Probably not the smartest decision Dwayne Pride had ever made. When you were held in a room in tattered clothes and a battered body the likelihood is not that you were OK in the end, and that asking questions would just speed up the arrival of that sticky end.

"Because I said so." The one who appeared to be the leader shouted again. He was white, clearly American and far too vicious for this to be his first rodeo. It wouldn't surprise Pride if when they checked him out they find he had a hand in a couple of the more vicious unsolved murders in Louisiana. He was definitely enjoying himself here.

"That isn't an answer." OK, he was being a smartass for the sake of being a smartass now, and he didn't think that was going to make their disposition any easier to deal with. But he had barely slept, didn't know where he was and had been in a brightly lit room for however long it had been. He gave up guessing.

"Get up." This time it was snapped from one of the others. Probably an underling, probably not the one who would be asking him questions, but the big upside to this was that now another had spoken he could just get up, and undermine the leader just a little more. He was going to start thinking of this underling as his favourite. While he was another white man, he was a little younger, and had an accent Pride couldn't quite place.

"Fine." He started to clamber up, but before he'd even got halfway the two silent underlings had stepped forwards and pulled him to his feet. He could have fought, but again, that would only hasten his death and he wanted to give his team long enough to find him. "You could have just asked nicely you know, saying please goes a long way." That earned him a punch to the face. Maybe this one wasn't his favourite underling after all. At this rate, his favourite would probably be the one that caused the least pain.

A second later both his arms had been wrenched upward, and he was half hanging, half standing in the middle of the room. He didn't know what he'd expected of the leader, but a plainly very white dude was the one starting the questioning. "Tell us about your team." The leader demanded, and Pride just looked at him confused.

"What?" He asked, confused ad dazed. What did his team have to do with this. He was the one they had wanted, and LaSalle and Brody were hopefully safely ensconced in the NCIS offices. He was certain they were safe where they were. At least, he hoped they were both ensconced in the NCIS building and not doing something stupid, like running into this situation long before they were really ready

"Your team." The leader pressed again, and a foot solidly connected with his side, causing him to wince and take a few steadying breaths. Thinking while under these circumstances was hard, and he didn't know if he'd said anything or not.

"I don't know what you're talking about?" He just didn't want to drop his team into this mess. It was his mess, not theirs. He didn't know where this place was, but he assumed that that was why he was in a place like this. To answer questions. He supposed this was really the only place he could have found, though 'found' was a misnomer. 'Kidnapped' was the more appropriate term.

"Who is this?" Pride was aware that there was a photo being held in front of him, but he has so worried that they would be showing him the grave of one of his agents he didn't look for a second. He was relieved, in a sick way, that the picture was not that at all.

Looking up and seeing the photo he felt a stab of pain mixed with longing, neither had anything to do with the blow to his solar plexus. Was she missing him as much as he was her? He'd probably never know. They hadn't had anything serious, but it could have been. Another punch reminded him he hadn't answered the question, and while he didn't want to give them any more information on his team, they already had pictures. They knew who they were. "Brody?" He answered, spitting out a gobfull of spit and blood as he did.

"And this?" Another picture, and this one was a different kind of pain. With Brody he saw a family. LaSalle was another type of family, a family they already had. It made him happy to see his friend in front of him, even if there was another strike, and more pain that came along with it.

"LaSalle." He finally manage to spit out, it was harder now to talk than he had expected, he wondered if the last strike to his face had caused this. It had happened more than once in a very short amount of time.

"Good." It was only then that Pride realise they'd known exactly who they were asking about. LaSalle and Brody would be working this, they would be trying to find him. That was why they'd wanted to know their names, and probably other things about them by now too. There was another fist to his stomach and he hissed as it landed. "See. Now you can try answering my harder questions."

The questions jumped, and with every answer there was a fist or a foot coming to kick him. He didn't know which one was causing the most pain now. The fists were more precise, but the feet carried more power, and they often caused the most damage. He knew that from investigations of tortured bodies.

What he found helped was disengaging. Thinking about the job, and the things that he could and should do there. He could deconstruct this as an investigator. Try and work out what their long-term goal was. All he knew right now was that he knew something about it. He couldn't even begin to make a guess at what it was from their current questions, they were erratic, and nonsensical.

"Leave him now. We need him alive." There was a grunt, and the pressure on his stomach was released, slowly but surely the ability to breathe easily returned, and he felt less like he was going to suffocate. All these were good things. His arms were still strung up above his head, and he was still in pain, but he knew that things like this weren't going to be easy to get out of. "Leave!" Was barked, and a moment later he heard a clattering that he recognised as the chains releasing.

With that the group of four left, Pride hitting the floor the second the chains were loosened. He tried to stay standing, but the damaged done to him in however long they'd just been beating him prevented it. As his body hit the floor he felt every injury he'd just gained. He laid on the floor and took stock of himself. Shaking off the chains from his wrists he laid flat and thought.

He figured out there were at least two broken ribs. Lower ones. He hoped that they wouldn't cause a problem to his breathing. Nothing else seemed to be broken, but they'd done a damn fine job of beating all hell out of his abdomen. He had no way to assess internal injuries, but he didn't feel too sick. That made him think that they'd prevented major damage to his internal organs.

What he'd figured out is that these weren't the big leagues. This wasn't an Isis or Al Qaeda cell. All of these boys were American, and from what he could tell, they weren't doing this for any religious reason. He was sure that, eventually, their goal would be obvious, but right now they'd just seemed to be a disorganised mess, asking him questions about various dignitaries, and various locations.

There didn't seem to be any sense to their questions, and there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason. He couldn't pick out a motive. That was more than a little frustrating for him. Surely there was a reason they had him here. He had no idea how long he'd been here for. This constant changing of the light settings seemed to be random, and it wasn't regular. The only thing he was sure of right this moment was that his team, his family, would be searching for him.


	5. Chapter 5

**This introduces the last player in this fic. Long-time readers my recognise the name. The character has undergone a massive overhaul, and this one is more based on the Beth I've been RPing for 5 years. I hope you enjoy her little appearances in this fic... and by "little" I mean, she's a major player. Also, in this chapter Brody mentions she's good at languages, I would like to point out I wrote that before she spoke Russian on the show. So I win! As always, please read and review.  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day Four**_

The bullpen had been silent for most of the day, there was none of the usual banter and conversation, there hadn't been in the days since King had gone missing. He saw Brody's occasional glances over at King's desk, and LaSalle felt his own eyes being drawn there more than he would have expected. They were both just going through the same reports, trying to find new patterns, when the sound of the gate opening reached him, and a second later a woman was stood in the doorway. "Agent Brody." She said, he couldn't immediately recognise the accent, but she had one. She probably stood about 5'7, but whatever she lacked in height she made up for in curly brown hair. Acres of it.

"Agent Callahan. Long time no see." Brody stood up and nodded to this Agent Callahan, there was clearly some sort of history between the two women, but he didn't quite know what it was. The frostiness, immediately, made him think that maybe it wasn't all that good.

"Yet here I am, anyway." There was something in her voice that made him a little concerned. Brody seemed to be looking a little concerned at this woman's presence too, but there was no way he could ask why without it being more than a little rude.

It was at that point he thought he best step in before this became an issue. Other than a name he had no idea who she was, but he knew straight away that she wasn't NCIS. "Who're you?"

"Beth, this is Special Agent Christopher LaSalle, and this is Supervisory Special Agent Bethan Callahan of the FBI." At that moment Brody burst out laughing, followed very quickly by their guest, who had an oddly lilting laugh he wouldn't have expected looking at her.

"You're weak Brody!" Callahan said to her, pointing as she did, and he wondered if this had been something standard they did whenever they met each other. They had certainly fallen into it without so much as looking at each other. Callahan had come in full of contempt. As he was thinking that she motioned to him with a smile that made her look a lot friendlier. "He would have been asking how you knew me next."

"Last I heard you'd transferred down to the BAU out of DC?" Brody asked, and LaSalle was still stuck feeling a little confused. Now he understood them not liking each other had been an act, in fact Brody's question told him two things, why she was an SSA, and that she was good. Normally the BAU only took the FBI's best.

"I did for a year, didn't stick. Now I'm counter-terrorism rapid response out of New York, it's better for Ger." He had no idea who or what that was, but the fact that the terrorism expert the FBI had sent was an old friend of Brody's did manage to make him feel a little bit more confident about this situation, and everything that went along with it. "You're lucky I was the one on call when they got your request."

"You heard my name and said you'd come, right?" Brody teased, and while he wasn't sure that was how assignments worked, it also didn't look as though Callahan was going to say no. He had to admit, it was quite fun seeing proof of the history Brody had before she came to the New Orleans office, other than knowing that she'd worked with Gibbs and a little bit of information about her ex-fiancé, he didn't know anything about pre-New Orleans Brody.

"It's warmer than New York." Brody then lead Callahan into the kitchen, which gave him no real option but to get up and follow them. He hadn't really wanted to get up, but for the moment he was willing to just go and listen. They were amusing, and right now he wasn't sure if they should be left alone. They sat down and he watched as they began talking about the past, but now, he wanted to finally get this all going.

"I'm glad you ladies are bonding, but we have a situation." He started, it was as if, for a moment, they'd both forgotten why they were there. King was still missing, no matter what their reasons were or how long it had been since they'd last seen each other. They weren't here for a cosy catch up. They were here to try and find their friend, a friend who had been missing for more than three days.

"One that I'm all read in on, thank you." Was the first response he got, and while Brody looked a little guilty, Callahan clearly wasn't standing for his snippy mood, she was probably right. He felt a little bad that he'd made Brody feel guilty about having moment with a friend. He was surrounded by friends here, and sometimes he forgot that she wasn't. But then, he remembered again that this was King, so he focused all his annoyance on the woman from the FBI.

"So you know this is about our boss, right." He asked, stepping a little closer, but she didn't stand up or do any of the things he would have expected for her to do if she felt threaten. She actually didn't look very bothered at all.

"Christopher, stop hounding the poor woman." LaSalle turned his head at the sounds of his name and another friendly voice, and smiled as he saw Loretta walk through the doorway. Maybe he had pushed that a little too far, she said she'd been read in on the situation, and he needed to take that as a given.

"Doc Wade, what's up?" He hadn't really been expecting to see her here. There was no body, and right now most of the work of the New Orleans field office was being picked up by neighbouring offices, trying to ease their load as they searched for their missing boss.

She held up the file and the bag she was carrying. "I thought I'd bring the reports on the scene where they found you, and also some dinner." Both Brody and Callahan perked up at the mention of dinner, and LaSalle thought he might have found something the two women had in common.

"Ooh food." Callahan was then the first to utter with a grin. Yep. The love of food was clearly something that they had in common. Food had been the first thing that he and King had noticed about Brody, and he'd been sure that it was something that only she could be quite so passionate about yet absolutely hopeless at making.

"We weren't introduced. Loretta Wade, medical examiner." Loretta clearly noticed that similarity between Callahan and Brody too, at least, the look she gave him made him think she had.

"Beth Callahan, FBI Counter Terrorism." Callahan stepped forward and held her hand out to Loretta. It was quite interesting to see how quickly the expert could flip between cordial and jovial.

"Nice to meet you." Loretta said with a smile, and as some sort of ringtone started, Callahan looked a little embarrassed pulling her cell out.

"You too. Excuse me." She stood up from the table and walked out into the courtyard, but not before they heard the beginning of her conversation. "Helo, na Ffion!" Followed by a rapid conversation in a language LaSalle couldn't even guess at. From where he was sat he could see her pacing around the courtyard.

"She seems interesting." He commented to Brody, somehow not picturing the two women getting along even a little. He barely knew the FBI agent though, and Brody's non-NCIS friend often confused him. He knew a few of them were FBI though, Callahan must have been one of them. "What language is that?"

Brody looked over her shoulder and out the archway to where Callahan was still pacing, having an intense conversation with someone. "Welsh, she's originally from Wales. I'm pretty good with languages but that one goes over my head." Listening to what he could, he wasn't really surprised, and he had picked up on an accent but he hadn't known what to make of it. He was still listening when Brody turned back to him and Loretta. "I've known her about 6 years. She's the only federal agent I've ever met who actually balances a family and this job." That was a feat, LaSalle knew that from having watched King struggle all these years.

"Married?" He asked, wondering. He hadn't seen a ring, but he also hadn't been looking for one. Doing a job like hers can't have been very easy with a husband, but obviously it must work if Brody thought it strange enough to comment.

"With three kids." That was also unexpected. He just hadn't marked the agent as a mom when she'd walked through the door. Normally doing this job long enough you learnt to read people, guess at their stories. He could have guessed married, but he wouldn't have guessed kids. Brody smiled again, shaking her head slightly. "She was pregnant with the third when I first met her."

"We should call Vance now she's here, see if he has plans for us now." He wanted to stop feeling suspicious of her, especially since Brody had vouched for her, but he just wasn't really feeling much like trusting anyone right now. He was in a weird catch 22 with his opinion on this.

"I'm hoping that with calling Beth and her team in we won't take up too much NCIS manpower, they all have enough to be dealing with." Brody had a point there. While NCIS was a large agency, the FBI was bigger, and had a much bigger budget. While they all occasionally skirted with terrorism, having someone on the ground who worked with it every day in one of the biggest target cities in the world was probably going to be good. "She's the one who deals with cells like these all the time LaSalle, we may have to accept that she knows more than us, she's also not as close to this as we are."

"Merri is right, Christopher. We all love King, we want him back, but because of that we won't be at our best. Callahan and her team don't have that personal connection." Loretta said from the stove, and he felt very ganged up on. He did agree that Callahan and her team would probably be best, but at the same time he wished they could do it together. Brody had been right two days earlier when she'd made the connection to terrorism, and she'd been right when she called in the FBI. He just hated that it wasn't something they could do alone.


	6. Chapter 6

**Alright... now we're getting going a little faster. Please aim your pitchforks at the left shoulder. As always, read and review.  
Shin xx**

 ** _Day_** _ **Five**_

* * *

Brody tried to stifle another yawn as she read through more evidence logs, tried to connect more circumstantial evidence to the amount they already had. Right now she was just sat at a table with Beth Callahan, both of them absorbed in whatever work they were doing, or at least, that's what Brody had thought, until Beth spoke. Clearly, her friend hadn't just been paying attention to the case, but also to her, and how tired she was. "Hey, when did you last sleep in your own bed?"

"What day are we on?" It was only asking that question she realised she was going to give away more than she'd been intending. Maybe Beth would be OK with it, or would at least let it slide by her without comment. While Beth had been married basically forever and was married to a man she'd met when she was 18, she was surprisingly understanding of the needs of others. So it wouldn't matter in the long run.

"Heading into day six." Beth looked up at the countdown clock on the wall, the one Brody forgot they'd set up to keep a list of days and hours since Pride had been last seen by LaSalle. the higher the number grew the less confident Brody was of seeing him again, but she was holding on hope, she probably always would. As for how long since she'd slept in her own bed. She just added 24 hours onto the number of days they were on.

"Then almost seven days." She shrugged then nodded toward the stairs, directing Beth's attention in that direction before she finished what she was saying. "I've been sleeping in Pride's room." It was comfortable in there, and she felt closer to Pride the longer she stayed in there. It wasn't much of a sleep though, and it wasn't much of a win.

"Really?" There was a hint of judgmental surprise in Beth's voice, something that right now Brody just wasn't in the right place to deal with. She'd tell her friend everything when she had chance, but that chance wasn't going to be right now. She was too tired, too worried and too afraid to share anything. Especially as that might all be a moot point anyway.

"Yeah." She eventually answered, as she knew that Beth's recent nosiness would not be satisfied with just that. So she was going to head her friend off before she said or implied anything more, though Brody was pretty sure that Beth would have already gotten it. "Don't say a thing."

"I'm not saying anything. Nothing at all." Beth held her hands up with a smile. There had been a change in the Welshwoman since she'd left the BAU, and Brody really liked it. She seemed far more confident dealing with terrorists than she ever had dealing with murderers. She also knew when people were getting to the edge of what they could do, she'd always been good at that. "Go home, Merri. I already sent LaSalle home. I'll be here, and I'll call you if anything changes."

"Alright. I'll see you in the morning." Brody gave in. If LaSalle had already left then there was no reason for her to stay here. She had a lot more that she could do, but her eyes were beginning to close and the hour long naps she'd taken in Pride's room were really not enough for her to have really recovered at all from the shock of discovering that her two closest friends had been kidnapped by terrorists. Sure, one was back now, but that didn't stop Pride from being missing still. She was too tired though, so maybe a full night in her own bed would be helpful.

"Sleep well Merri." Beth smiled after her, and the confidence of knowing the FBI team were well in place in their offices actually made her feel better. Home was definitely where she was heading, and it as needed.

It really did seem a long time since she'd been home. It made her glad she didn't have any pets, and that all her plants were plastic. She just didn't have time for anything high-maintenance in her life right now. Pride's bed was comfortable, and it smelt like him, which had made facing everything a little bit easier. As she pulled up outside her house she felt a shiver, something up her spine. A tingle that told her that this wasn't all that she expected.

"Hello?" She shouted, just wondering if maybe one of the neighbours had been taking the trash out or if a cat as about to go rocketing past her as it chased something that she couldn't see.

When she didn't hear anything she shut the door, there was nothing else in the car she needed, and her phone was in her hand. Nothing else was going to matter much. She'd taken five steps when that spectral feeling rose up her spine again. She stopped in her tracks and looked around in the darkness, praying that all of this was really just her mind playing tricks on her. Hyper-aware after the threats made to the NCIS team.

She was about to keep moving when she saw the movement, giving her just a second to brace herself against the collision. That wasn't enough to keep her on her feet, and the mysterious attacker went down with her. They were more prepared for this though, and were up again in a second. Slightly too fast for Brody, and with their advantage they managed to clamp the rag over her mouth. She tried to fight, but her limbs stopped doing what she wanted them to do, and moments later, consciousness slipped from her entirely.

When she awoke, she had no idea of how much time had passed, she didn't know if it was still Thursday, or if it was Friday or Saturday. All she knew was that whatever fears she'd been having since Pride had been captured about joining him, they were about to come true. It was just way too coincidental that two NCIS Agents would be kidnapped by separate agencies in a week.

Everything ached, and she could feel a graze on her elbow from where she'd been tackled. So far though, they were her only injuries. She doubted, now, that it would stay that way. Whatever room she was in now, whatever chair she was tied to, it didn't seem to be the type of room she'd be staying in. Given that everyone around just stood there in groups she assumed that speaking was allowed here. "Where the hell am I?"

"Shut up." Was shouted at her and she was punched, hard, on the left side of her face. Her head snapped away and she felt blood in her mouth. She spat it out onto the pristine floor and smirked, managing to feel pretty happy about ruining their floor. She was also quite happy to be the opposite of a sensible person and decided to comment again, maybe she could make one of them laugh.

"That's not very polite." She continued, spitting another mouthful of blood onto the floor to the side of her. It actually hurt a little to do that, and she wondered if she'd bitten the inside of her mouth when he'd hit her.

"I said shut up." Another fist to the face, this time on the other side, forcing her head to snap in the other direction. She felt the muscles in her neck strain at being pushed so far in the wrong direction twice in a very short time. She had expected that when she spoke, especially after the first time. Why it hadn't been an obvious reason not to speak was probably the bigger concern.

"Alright, message received." She muttered, and got and open handed slap to the back of the head for that. At least it wasn't another punch. She preferred the second of the two henchmen, and she hadn't heard him speak. Only the first one. The one that had the mean and angry voice.

"Make yourself comfortable." The high pitched laughter followed the cruel words, and Merri knew that that wasn't going to be for the best as two of his henchmen picked her up and moved her, she had no say about where she was going, and all she remembered of where they were was the lights. She was still too drugged to be making sense of very much.

She was literally thrown into the cell, and her already bruised body slammed into the wall on the far end. The room was bright, and she wondered if they ever darkened it, or if it was that bright for a purpose. There wasn't much in the room, sets of chains, various thicknesses and lengths. Then there was a water trough in the far corner. Thankfully it appeared to be empty. Then, in the middle of the room, there was a person. A person she recognised almost immediately. She knew those clothes, and she knew that smell.

"Oh god King." She ran over and checked his pulse, happy at least to feel a steady beat. She didn't want to wake him, so she retreated to another corner and tried to settle down. This was a new situation for her, and she could tell from the state of King that he'd been abused more than once in the days since he'd been here. She wondered how long she'd manage to go before she looked as bruised as he did. As she settled in her corner the last thing that filtered through her mind was that this was, very much, the opposite of sleeping in her own bed.


	7. Chapter 7

**Everyone who reviewed or messaged me about this chapter was like "I can't wait to see Pride's reaction!" ... Well here you are. Please, as I said yesterday. Pitchforks to the left. Only PinkAngel17 is not allowed to throw them because she's written worse. I also don't think I mentioned that the inspiration for the title of this fic came from a West Wing episode. It's a good one though! Anyway, on with the chapter.  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day Six**_

Pride awoke slowly and somehow he could tell there was something different about the room. He didn't even need to open his eyes. Then he realised what it was. There was more breathing. Someone else was in the room. He guessed that since he was alive that whoever it was hadn't been sent to kill him. So he took his time stretching and waking up, then he sat up and looked around.

That was when he saw her, her shirt torn, little more than rags now. He wasn't sure he was prepared to find out what had happened to her. Meredith Brody had clearly arrived when he'd been asleep, and he'd slept through it. It had been so long since he'd slept that he'd just passed out, and stayed that way.

Knowing that Brody was there terrified him more than he'd expected. He didn't want to have to see her go through any of the things that he'd gone through for the last however long he'd been stuck in here. He didn't think he could cope with her surviving through that. "Merri. Meredith." He decided that waking her up was the best idea. At least then he could check on her

"Hey King." She said as she rolled over to face him. He was shocked at the face when she did. One eye was swollen to a slit, while the other was mottled yellow and green. The bruises were dropping to her jaw line, and she had a split in her lip that looked painful. He desperately wanted to reach out and touch it, but he knew from his own injuries that that was a bad idea. "Nice place we have here." She commented sarcastically, and he was happy to see that no matter what, this hadn't affected her humour.

"Are you OK?" He asked, and he realised it was a stupid question before it even finished, but he was committed by that point. He wanted to know Brody's opinion of her current state before he assumed how bad it was. There was one thing he knew, and that was that Meredith Brody would be honest about her physical state no matter what.

"A bit beaten." There was that sense of humour again. He couldn't help but snort a little at her response, he then shook his head, wincing as he did. Clearly Brody noticed that, and he felt uncomfortable at her knowing how badly hurt he actually was. "Not as bad as you from the looks of it."

"What happened?" He asked, and again that was probably a stupid question. She'd been kidnapped, the same as he had been. He'd sorta hoped that she'd stay in the office while he wasn't there. Maybe even in his room.

"I was attacked just after getting home last night." Something about her comment made it sound like maybe he hadn't been wrong, and she had indeed been staying at the office and that was her first trip home. He wanted to ask her that, but it wouldn't be professional, and it wouldn't fit with this place either.

"What's happening out there?" Brody would no doubt have taken on most of the roles of liaising with other departments and agencies. She was good at that. He often wondered if he should just let her talk to them personally. Something about her sunny personality had everyone drawn to her. So she would have been the one, no doubt who would have co-ordinated everything since he went missing.

"Everyone is searching for you King." That was nice to hear. People cared enough about him to be looking for him, while there were no doubt others who thought this was fair because of US military police being present in their land. Most every day landowners were happy with the presence of US troops. "Us now, I guess."

He didn't quite understand her statement. Who were everyone? As far as he could remember, there was only Christopher left in their office, Loretta and Sebastian, maybe Patton. He just didn't understand who 'everyone' could possibly be. "Everyone?"

"We called in the FBI." Well, that was unusual. He wondered if it was Fornell, or if someone else had come in to help. Brody's continuation told him who it was, and he wondered if any of them actually knew who he was other than being an NCIS agent. "The Counter-terrorism unit."

"Why? How did you know it was terrorism?" That was the only question he could think of. He'd known it was domestic terrorism the day he was captured, and he wasn't exactly surprised that Brody and the team had figured it out too. He might not know how, right now, but he wasn't surprised that they had.

"We got a threat, a very detailed threat." He assumed the threat was to the NCIS office. He didn't understand why Brody would want to keep it to herself. Unless the threat was that disturbed, and that depraved, that she wanted to keep it to herself. "Right after you and LaSalle went missing."

"What did it say?" He asked, whether or not she'd tell him was a toss up. If it was a plan for what went on here he wasn't sure he wanted to know, in fact he was almost certain he didn't want to know. He'd rather have his next method of torture be a surprise than know at what point they expected him to die.

"You don't need to know." He'd been right, but she didn't give him a hint as to why. That again didn't surprise him, but something about the way she was told him that whatever had been detailed in the threat had managed to shake her to the core. That worried him, as the only time he'd seen her this shaken had been learning about her sister.

"You're hurt?" He noticed her wincing as she moved. It didn't surprise him looking at her face that there was damage elsewhere, but that still didn't make him feel any better about it. He didn't like seeing her in pain, and even less he liked knowing that the root cause was probably him.

"Not really, I think I hurt my ribs on my slide in here last night." He wasn't going to ask about the slide, he had a feeling it came at the end of her being thrown, and he was angry enough about it all.

The guilt was something he may have to learn to live with, because he didn't know entirely what to do to get rid of it. "I'm sorry you got dragged into this." He apologised, just wanting her to know that he did know that this was his fault, and he wished she wasn't here.

"Hey, this wasn't your fault." She was always good at talking someone up, and he knew that she understood how damaging blaming yourself could be. He knew she had the experience enough to know how to relieve his. "These guys didn't care which of us they got, if LaSalle and I had gone to investigate it could be you and LaSalle here, or me and LaSalle."

"They got you because of me. Otherwise they would have kept LaSalle." That was all he could think of. Why else would they have abandoned him, and why would it be he and Brody here now.

"No. They needed LaSalle to be found." That wasn't just a casual theory, Pride had learnt to read her better than that. She knew that for a fact or she wouldn't have even mentioned it to him. Brody only reported facts. "It was in the note."

That was when he realised why the threat had bothered her so much. Because with the cell having him and LaSalle... she was the only one yet. The threat had been aimed at Brody. "The threat was aimed at you?" He asked, only it wasn't actually a question, it was a statement.

"Well, they expected LaSalle to be dead, but yeah." That didn't surprise him either, of course they hadn't factored in size when it came to sedating someone until they were too weak and died. Brody swallowed, and as Pride looked at her he saw the fear in her eyes. "I was the one they hadn't gotten. There was some threat to you still implied. You know something they want."

"I don't know what." He had been trying to figure that out since he'd been here, but he hadn't gotten it. The questions didn't make any sense, and more often than not they didn't even follow the same topic. It made it hard to narrow down what they wanted. "Their questions haven't been very easy to decipher."

"Just don't answer any of them." She told him, and he wondered if she remembered that she was talking to someone who, like Gibbs, had done plenty of stints undercover like this.

"That was my plan all along." He smiled, glad, at least, that she thought he had a good idea.

Brody studied him for a moment, and he was suddenly aware that his breathing was shallow as he dealt with a wave of pain. Clearly she realised that he wasn't as well as he was trying to make it look so he wouldn't worry her. "You look hurt, Dwayne." The use of his given name was soft, and it reminded him that they weren't just Agents.

"How long has it been?" He asked, trying to shake off the personal topic, knowing it would just make them feel so much worse.

"Six days, probably heading up to seven now." That was when he realised that Brody had been in this psychological torturous hole more than an hour or two. She was trying to work it out sensibly.

"Is that it?" It felt longer, far longer. Due to the sensory deprivation here he had no idea how many days were passing out in the real world. All he knew was that time was passing, and eventually they would give up on him.

"I know." She frowned and he had to try and figure it out as well. He had genuinely thought that it would be longer, but it hadn't been. Brody clearly knew what was going through his mind, and she squeezed his hand gently. "It felt like longer for me too."

"I missed you." He couldn't help but let it slip out. The almost silent words being the only thing about their personal relationship he would let through right now. He didn't need their captors to know that Brody was anything but a colleague to him.

"Me too." He could tell there were things she wasn't telling him, but given operational security it was probably for the best that he didn't know them. So far they were focused on him, and he hoped it stayed that way. As the doors opened and their captors walked through the door he gave Brody a look, only to see that she was already giving him the same look. It was a look that said 'well this ought to be fun'.


	8. Chapter 8

**Haha yeah, we're getting into the blood and guts now. This chapter, however, is a bit of a chill chapter, and fills in some more information about Beth, and much more about how Brody and Beth know each other.  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day Seven**_

LaSalle had barely been able to sleep the last few days, but the last 24 hours had been hard even for him. Yesterday he'd arrived here to find the entire FBI team in a rush. It turned out Brody hadn't arrived when she'd been expected and she wasn't answering her calls. Thy'd rushed to her house and found her car open, her things scattered on the floor and the police just cordoning off the scene. So despite going home, he hadn't actually slept much since. He'd gotten a couple of hours at home, and a couple on one of the upstairs sofas. Now he just wanted to know if there was news. "Any news on Brody?"

"No, my team has searched her yard and we sent everything off for testing." Callahan said, barely looking up from her cornflakes and newspaper. He didn't understand how she could be so calm and nonchalant about this. He wasn't sure he'd be able to keep his breakfast down if he tried to eat. Was this something she had learnt for work, or was she naturally this compartmentalised.

"Spill." He prodded. Hoping there was something. He'd largely been kept out of the investigations into Brody's disappearance, because it was better for all involved if the more neutral FBI team had investigated. He was growing to trust Callahan, and she trusted Fletcher, Robinson and Hernandez, her team. That was making this easier to deal with.

"She got out of her car. A neighbour says he heard her shout a greeting. Then he heard a commotion." That was standard in most abductions, he knew that. It was always the easiest way, get their target in a blitz attack. "By the time he got out there she was gone."

"Right. That doesn't help." Knowing it was standard meant it could be anyone, and wasn't necessarily related to King. He assumed though, from the way Callahan was acting, that this was part of the threat Brody hadn't let him read.

"There was evidence, and the letter." He'd been right, he knew he'd been right. Brody should have let him read that letter. Callahan, however, seemed to be completely on the side of his partner, and hadn't let him read it either. "My team took it to your lab. Mr. Lund, right?"

"Sebastian, yeah." He pictured their skinny lab genius working as hard as he could on every piece of evidence he'd been handed that pertained to their situation. He was certain that this was something that Sebastian could crack. It was only a matter of time.

"So now we're just waiting." Callahan was clearly not going to let it go, and he didn't blame her. Telling him that now they needed to wait was probably a little relieving for her, and a little like psychological torture for him. He didn't want to wait, he wanted to be doing something to try and bring his friends home.

Waiting, it seemed like such a luxury, but she was right. A lot of their leads so far had gone cold, and that meant that had to wait on new leads. So he was going to take this opportunity to get to know who he was working with, and also to maybe get to know Brody a little better. "Since we're waiting, how about you tell me how you met Brody."

"Oh, that was a long time ago." Callahan smiled, and he wondered if that was why Brody had never mentioned this friend. Not that Brody actually mentioned many friends really. A long time meant that Callahan might know some interesting tidbits about their friend that he didn't know yet.

"How long ago?" He asked, looking at her a moment. He didn't really know much about Brody, he knew roughly how long she'd been with NCIS, he knew that she'd lived a bunch of places, that she went to MSU and was an in-state student and he knew that she had an ex-fiancé called James. That was as much as he knew about her really. She kept herself private.

"Six years, I think." Clearly Callahan was computating times in her mind. He wondered how she was working it out, but then realised that he'd probably get it in the answer. "I had a baby, and another baby on the way. My youngest is 5 and a half right now. The half is important, according to him." While that was interesting, he wasn't sure if any of it actually mattered to the story of how Callahan knew Brody.

"Is all that important to the story?" He tried to sound as though he was interested, and normally he was, he loved kids and was very happy to know about them, but he wanted a different story right now.

"It is. I was working in Alaska, I had a case and it included some of the docks, so we called in NCIS to help." He knew that happened a lot, particularly in places like Alaska where there wasn't all that much crime, in comparison to other places. "Brody and I spent two weeks partnered up. She practically lived in my house. With a screaming baby, a five year old who didn't like anyone and my husband, who was not in the mood for my job that fortnight." The way she said that made it sound like her husband was rarely in the mood for her job, but LaSalle wasn't entire sure he could blame him. He wouldn't want his wife doing their job, really.

"So she helped?" He figured out that she must have been valuable, otherwise he couldn't imagine the two agents would have stayed in touch, especially not to the point where they would wind someone up on purpose without even a second thought or a look at each other. That was the kind of friendship that was rare in this job.

"You know Merri." Was Callahan's only response, but more surprising was that it didn't surprise him, and he knew exactly what she meant. There was something about Brody that meant she was always helpful, even when she wasn't trying to be.

There was one thing about her that nobody could argue, and that was that she was good at her job. "She's good, she's really good."

"Always has been." Callahan smiled, and clearly now she had something to ask. "You should tell me about how she came to settle down here? I wasn't sure she'd ever settle anywhere." LaSalle knew that Brody moved around, but he wasn't sure why, or really even how. She had seemed to take to New Orleans though, and she was happy here. Callahan, clearly, knew a little more about it. "I mean, she was in Chicago for two years, but she still traveled around and was only really based there."

"I think she stayed for the food." He said honestly. He remembered right from their first case that Brody had loved food. He'd heard a tale from King about Brody eating debris that still made him chuckle when he heard it.

"Well, I've noticed myself the food here is pretty incredible." She smiled, nodding to the take out cartons she still had in the corner of the office.

"Couldn't tempt you down here?" He would not mind if he worked with Callahan again. Sure she wasn't as natural to trust yet, like Addie or Fornell, but he was sure if they worked together more often she could be that type of friend to NCIS, and the food was worth it.

"The food probably could, the death and divorce threats from my husband would negate the food though." That was an interesting consequence of suggesting to move. A counter terrorism unit in Louisiana would be good though. He might suggest that when this was all done with, and suggest a preferred unit chief.

"Ah, he not one for moving?" The question was ripe for picking, and he couldn't help it. She'd mentioned her husband a couple of times in a way that made it clear he didn't approve of her job, but something must have kept them together, so he wasn't going to push too hard.

"Not again, we moved three times in 18 months for my career, he's happy now, so it's time I stay put and jet off around the country when I'm needed." That seemed like a common thing for some agents, but he couldn't imagine moving so often, so he didn't entirely blame Callahan's husband. "So, how long have you been an agent down here?" He was already well into explaining how he'd met King and how he'd been disillusioned with Vice when he realised that she had perfectly deflected his personal questions with one of her own. That was quite impressive, and he was going to have to keep more of an eye on her in future. He was a federal agent, he shouldn't have been so easy to redirect. But he had been, that was his bad. While he was anxiously waiting for Sebastian's results he had to admit, this wasn't a terrible way to waste the time.


	9. Chapter 9

**Alright... I will dodge those pitchforks you've been holding since C6 in 5... 4...  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day Nine**_

Brody and Pride had been sitting picking over the last bits of the gruel that had been kicked out to them for... well whatever meal had been the last one. The constant deprivation of any other light sources, and nobody gave it away. There were no pleasantries to guess for. The cell members who had clearly taken on their questioning, and it meant they could recognise when they came through. She hoped that she'd be left alone this time, only because her pain level was quite high. At the same time though, she didn't want King to be hurt. "This is gonna be fun." Pride muttered a second before they got there.

"Again?" She asked as sarcastically as she could. It had become a private game, where she tried to see how far she could push her captors before one of them snapped. Normally it only took one or two comments, but today she was hoping for a few more. Pride didn't look at all impressed with her, but he was used to this game too at this point.

"Up." The minion in front of them ordered, just looking between the two of them. She patted Pride's leg gently, reminding him that no matter what he needed to stay quiet. This would all be over faster if he gave them what they wanted. They wouldn't be useful anymore. She knew it killed him that this was happening, but she knew without doubt that it was what they needed.

"Yeah. I know the routine." She muttered as she got to her feet, and the second she was up she got a rifle to the gut as punishment for her sarcasm. She was winded for a second, and unable to move, so she was just carried to the spot where they were going to string her up for today's demonstrations.

"You shouldn't be this used to this after... not long." Pride commented after a few minutes, looking over at her from where he was being strung up. Apparently today he was joining in on the sarcastic comments. While she was appreciative that she wasn't going to be alone with them, she didn't really want to watch him get the same treatment she did.

"It's been long enough." She decided to play off of him though, mostly because that would draw the attention back to her. Which she knew he hated but she thought was necessary for their safety.

"Shut up both of you." The leader bellowed as he walked into the room. She tried hard not to focus on him, because ignoring him made him feel out of control. She just locked eyes with Pride and nodded slightly. Letting him know that she was OK.

They were both strung up again, this was the third or fourth time since she'd been in here. She wasn't sure if that symbolised days or it that was just when they decided to come. Once they had gone for King, the other three they had all gone for her, which she was beginning to expect.

Sure enough, she was strung up again, and she recognised the look on the Leader's face. She'd looked at that face every time they'd come in. Their last questioning period didn't seem that long ago. Trying to survive all of these interrogations were going to become harder if she wasn't given a longer break between them. There was damage done, and damage added every time. It was becoming a problem.

This time the Leader held up long straps, and she already knew what she was going to get. As one of the minions started rattling off the prepared list of questions, Merri tried to disconnect her mind from the pain. She knew she yelped for most of them even while trying not to, she was going to be struggling with this for a while. The leather straps causing angry red marks wherever they hit. Interspersed with punches and kicks.

She was coughing by the end of this treatment. Her skin red raw. It had hurt her more than she wanted to let on at all. She didn't want to appear weak, but her entire body was complaining. Her clothes were little more than tattered rags right now, and she knew that that was another problem. Her clothes didn't protect her at all.

Eventually, the Leader realised it was beginning to get to the point of being too much for her, the pain and the repeated hits. She knew that even if he ended right now that the damage had, once again, been done. Clearly these interrogations were getting shorter, and the Leader wasn't happy.

"If we didn't need you, I'd be using you for a very different reason." The leader hissed to her, rubbing his hand over the front of her pants and between her legs before he walked away. She shuddered to herself, and somewhat hoped that Pride hadn't seen or heard that. The look on his face made her think that she didn't have that kind of luck. She had never seen so much anger and hatred on King's face.

"Gods, they are trying to hit me everywhere. Also a threat of sexual assault. That was a kicker." She knew at this moment she was talking more to herself than either of the two tasked with throwing her down after they were questioned never ever engage with her. Sure, they no doubt reported what was said when they went to their meetings, assuming they had meetings, but she didn't care who knew what she was thinking.

"How you doing?" Pride asked as soon as he was dropped to the floor, long before their captors had even left the room. She kept an eye on the feet going out the door, not wanting to reply until they were gone. She knew they were probably watching, and listening, even when they weren't in the room. But the semblance of privacy was better than no privacy at all.

"I'm still alive, for now." She was in so much pain, and that was making it harder to answer Pride's questions. She just wanted all of this to be over. Which was probably why she added the last two words, which just cause Pride to give her a strange look that she couldn't quite decipher.

"Meredith." He chastised her just a little, and she could understand why. They'd put a moratorium on mentioning the likely outcome of their captivity here. It wasn't often that Pride used her full name, she didn't actually remember the last time he'd used it.

"I'm OK King. I'm in pain." She pushed herself up, a little, from the mess they'd left her in. Crouching on the floor she started cough, and in doing so dislodged some of the gunk that had settled in her lungs. She spat it to the side, a combination of phlegm and blood, and she wondered if the blood was from her lungs or her mouth.

"Gimme a list." Pride asked, sitting right beside her and gently putting a hand on her side. That was one of the few places right now that didn't hurt. How in the name of hell had he known that without her telling him."

"A couple of broken ribs, probably." The small stabbing pains on movement told her that. The blood in her mucus and the throbbing in her lower abdomen told her that this time, internal injuries had occurred. "Definitely some internal injuries this time."

"You should let me answer." She knew exactly what he meant, and all that would do would be bring about their deaths much faster. Answering them was exactly the wrong way to go.

She jerked forward despite the pain and was enveloped in a coughing fit before she was able to answer him. "No!" She exclaimed, and his face didn't change, not even a little. He wanted to protect her. To save her. So he was considering doing something unthinkable. "You know as well as I do that won't change anything."

"I can't keep seeing you get beat like this." He looked saddened, pained, and she could understand it. He didn't want to see her get hurt. But she had accepted that, and he should too. He was not to answer anything. Not a single thing.

"You damn well can, and will." She was going to keep pressing that point home. Pride would see this, and continue seeing this until it was over, because he had to make it through this and get home, even if she didn't.

"I know you're right, but I still hate it." That was something she could wholeheartedly agree with. She hated everything about this situation, apart from the fact that he was the one she was here with.

"So do I." She felt like he wasn't realising how much she hated this. Sure, this sucked for him but right now she was the punching bag, and she was the one crouched on the floor spitting out blood. She would be lucky if she survived much more of this. She could already feel herself starting to slip. But the one thing about them being gone was that now they could sleep. "We should both rest before they come in again."

"I'm not leaving you." He told her, and the point was that she didn't really mind that, in fact she was grateful of his protectiveness. In this situation it actually helped. She would be pissed almost anywhere else, but here it was a good thing.

"Good, I can use your arm as a cushion." She smiled, glad that he took that as an invitation to wrap her up. She hated where they were, what they were doing, and she doubted if it was LaSalle there with her that she'd be so willing to cuddle up, but she hoped that this was as comforting for King as it was for her. She felt safe when they were curled up, and she didn't have to worry. He was there and she was protected, at least that's what she told herself.

* * *

 **...3...2...1... *ducks***


	10. Chapter 10

**Only one person caught the Enterprise easter egg a couple chapters back. I'm amused at that. Anyway, on with the story.  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day Nine**_

Pride had been sat here for hours with her head against his chest. He'd cuddled up to her when he'd heard the rattling cough that tended to go along with an infection or pneumonia. Sitting her up had been the best choice, but she hadn't the strength, so he'd cuddled her into his side and kept her sat up himself. "What do you think is going on at home?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, and he shrugged, trying to think of another way to put it.

"Our friends, our families?" He wondered if Linda and Laurel were there, if they were supporting each other. He wondered if Linda was as worried now as she would have been when they were still married. It was a big empty question, and he had no idea the answer.

"My mom might be here, maybe having brought my father too." He knew they were the only family she had. He knew she'd had a twin sister who died years earlier, and he'd never really gotten to know if she had any other family. She never mentioned any, so he assumed her parents were it.

"Really, you think they'd come?" He hadn't got the best impression of Mr and Mrs Brody from hat she'd said. he wasn't even certain if they were still together. Given her knowledge of being stuck in the middle, it would surprise him more if they were than if they weren't. One day he'd ask her.

She shrugged, and he realised she didn't know or really care if her parents had come to Louisiana. She just wondered if they had. "Weddings and funerals. Seems to be their MO."

"What?" He didn't quite understand, but he was sure it wouldn't take her long to explain. He knew that she had problems with her parents, and that she was often the one in the middle. That had probably got worse when her sister had died too. He couldn't really blame her or being angry.

"They only ever show up at family events for weddings and funerals. The even left Emily's wake early." He could tell she was angry about that, and he couldn't really blame her, their own daughter's wake. He didn't think he'd be able to leave if it was Laurel. "I suppose having your daughter likely kidnapped by a terrorist cell counts as a reason they'd come? Actually they are probably dealing with it all from the house in Michigan."

"Is that where you want to be buried?" He asked. Maybe this was a morbid way to talk, but at this point there didn't seem to be many options. He was going to keep praying for a rescue though, but he wasn't sure how much longer she would last, and when she gave up, he would too.

"Nah, if I get my choice I'd rather be pushed out to sea on a pyre and set fire to. Viking style." She nodded her head a little then hissed, no doubt because of the pain. She needed to remember not to do things that made it hurt worse. "Otherwise cremated and scattered at sea."

"Really?" That was interesting, and definitely not what he'd expected. Somehow though, that seemed completely her. She would be the one wanting a Viking funeral.

"Yeah. I've loved the ocean since I was a kid." She smiled, and he got another bit of information about why she had chosen to join NCIS when she probably could have been an agent for any of the federal agencies. "You?" She asked, and he realised after a minute she was asking about his final resting place

"Probably in the same cemetery in New Orleans as most of my family." He had always assumed that's where he'd go, at least.

She smiled a little at that and cuddled into him more. "That's nice, my family never really put roots down anywhere." For some reason, that revelation didn't "What about your family, what do you think they are doing?"

"Laurel will be going nuts. Probably living in the office." He could imagine his daughter sleeping in his room, refusing to leave, and driving every single person who was trying to work their case nuts by asking for answers. She'd never been in this situation, so he wouldn't blame her.

"Probably, we convinced her to go home with Linda on the condition LaSalle call her every three hours with updates." He wondered if their friend had kept that up while they were so far away from the office and he was mostly on his own.

"That's good to know." He thought more about his parents. He hadn't spoken to his mother in years, didn't know where she was. She was still escaping his father's shadow, so she didn't stay in contact much. "My mom probably doesn't know. She's probably in Europe somewhere. Cassius... I'm not sure."

"Our faces are probably getting enough play on the media." She made a good point, no doubt they were, by this point, getting play on the media. Kidnapped federal agents normally played well. That was the part that didn't make him feel overly confident.

"Not sure that makes me feel any better." He kissed her forehead and frowned. This wasn't something he really wanted to think about, but he also knew that she would think about it anyway, and would therefore make him think about it.

"Me either, but it's happening." He could see the reports, pictures of he and Brody from crime scenes, probably a few that Christopher had taken around the office. Definitely their file photos. It didn't make him feel much more confident. "Is it weird that I can imagine Sebastian going through every bit of particulate evidence from my driveway in an attempt to find where we are. It won't work though." That sounded a little more defeatist than he'd expected of Brody, normally she'd be the optimistic one. "If they find us, it'll be through the CIs. My CIs."

"The ones you made after that vice round-up?" He remembered the vice raid, largely because while they'd all be arrested, three of them had allowed Brody close, and eventually agreed to become a CI, they were only known in the database by number, but Brody, somehow, always knew who she was talking about.

"Yeah. Two of them, at least, had connections to the group I suspect took us." Pride just looked at her for a moment and remembered exactly how good an agent she was. She knew her CIs inside out, and she knew when and if they'd be willing to help. "If any information comes, it'll be through them."

"If they trust Christopher." He commented, remembering how neither of them had been able to open up the community of informants that Brody had when she'd arrived. There had been a niche, and Brody had exploited it perfectly.

"They won't, but they might trust Agent Callahan." Brody clearly trusted this agent, and given that outside of the people associated with the NOLA office, Pride was fairly sure she could count the people Brody trusted on one hand, it was an important detail. He could trust her if Brody trusted her. "They might trust her easier than they did me."

Considering how fast, relatively, Brody's CI network of call girls, street walkers and drug addicts had fallen in he was amazed at the idea someone could get them to open up faster than Brody herself had done. "Why?"

"She's a foreigner, and immigrant." Brody answered, and that did explain it. They had connected with Brody when he and LaSalle couldn't get close. He could imagine someone from another country finding it easier than Brody had to get them to talk. "She's a Welsh national." That was new. He didn't think he knew anyone from Wales.

"Oh." He stopped questioning, and tried to remember a Welsh national in NCIS, he guessed, though, that she might be the expert Brody had mentioned a few days ago from the FBI. He could see why she might be able to get immigrated sex-workers to trust her easier than some cop from America.

"Dwayne." There was something about the way Brody said that made him wish they were anywhere else in the world. Using their given names was rare. She called him King or Pride, he called her Merri or Brody. This was the first time outside of their private nights he'd heard her use his full name. It was full of fear and pain, and it caused him to wrap his arms around her a little more tightly.

"Yes, Meredith?" He replied, still holding her tightly, and trying to inject as much confidence as he possibly could into those two words. He didn't want her to be afraid, but in this place he probably couldn't help it, he was afraid too.

"We're gonna get out of here, right?" Her question was almost silent, and it caused his heart to pause for a second. There was no guarantee they would. There was no guarantee that he wouldn't watch her die, then follow her himself. There was no guarantee that they both wouldn't just give up. But for now, he was going to believe they'd be saved.

"Yeah. We are." He kissed her temple and frowned, hoping that he wasn't giving her false hope. This place was beginning to sap the hope out of the both of them. But nobody had come in to question them again today, though he still felt the better words were 'torture' them. That mean he was going to look toward the good, and hope they would get out of there soon.


	11. Chapter 11

**Back to LaSalle and Callahan.**

* * *

 _ **Day Ten**_

The text message LaSalle had woken too had just told him that he needed to come to the conference room. It didn't actually give much more information than that. He had therefore decided to take a few minutes trying to make it look like he hadn't fallen asleep on a sofa in the office. The problem was, when he walked into the conference room it was obvious that he had already missed quite a bit, and the visage of Leon Vance scowled as he sidled in. "Agent LaSalle , thanks for joining us."

"Director." He nodded toward the screen as he came to stand beside Callahan. He had gotten somewhat used to her being there, but what he hadn't gotten used to was her habit of not bringing anyone else coffee. He was going to have to do this meeting without. At least thats what he thought until she handed him a cup

"SSA Callahan was just filling me in on where you're up to down there." Vance started, and while LaSalle wanted to drink, he also wanted not to piss off the director any more than he already had by not being prompt. Vance was quite no-nonsense, and LaSalle was sure he wouldn't cope well with an agent pausing everything to drink.

"Yes sir, we have some leads." He answered, that was a little bit of an overstatement, but not by much. They had an idea of people they could speak to about this, and that was the important thing.

He was immensely grateful when Callahan coughed lightly to drag the attention to her, giving him a chance to get a little bit of the hot liquid down his neck. "I was just saying how you've made my team feel very welcome here."

"How is the office coping without Pride and Brody?" He knew it was a standard question but somehow he couldn't help but be a little offended.

"Sir?" He asked. The first thing Brody had done when Pride had gone missing had been to arrange with some of her former colleagues for help being brought down here. That had been when they'd been told to work Pride's case and the other offices would absorb their caseload until their agents were recovered. "I've been redirecting our cases."

"I know, and I'm glad to see there is some common sense in the New Orleans office." Of course he'd known, he would have had to sign off on Brody's original request, which meant he'd really been asking how LaSalle was doing, but apparently that had been answered too. "I'm going to turn command of this operation to you SSA Callahan."

"Sir?" It was Callahan's turn to look at the director as though he'd grown another head. That was a suggestion that again made a lot of sense. He wasn't saying that, necessarily, it would be a good thing that Callahan took over. It wouldn't be a bad thing either though.

"I have the backing of the FBI director and SecNav." Of course this would be a situation that would require SecNav to know what was happening, that made LaSalle feel even more nervous about everything that was going on. "It's better that way, less personal entanglement." That pronouncement made it obvious that Vance knew some of what went on in this office.

"That's not necessarily true sir." Callahan spoke up, and LaSalle just blinked a couple of time. He'd expected her to accept immediately then start gloating, instead she was doing almost the exact opposite. She was trying to deflect the fact that he was the _only_ one who had a relationship with Brody and Pride. Clearly she decided that it was necessary that Vance know about her friendship with Brody. "I've known Agent Brody for years."

LaSalle had to admit though, Vance was right. Callahan and Brody might have been distant friends, but they didn't work together every day and socialise together every weekend. It gave her a distance he didn't have. "No, Callahan, he's right."

"What?" She stopped and turned to him, clearly even more confused by his endorsement than she had been by the recommendation to begin with. She was obviously not sure how this was going to work. He just tried to ignore Vance, finding it easier to talk to just Callahan.

"You might be friends with Brody, but I work with her every day, and King I've known for years." King had saved him from more than one rough spot, it meant that LaSalle had a weak spot when it came to him that would be counteracted if Callahan took over. Especially since her extended team didn't know either Brody or Pride. "Your team don't know them at all. You should be in charge."

"This is your city." Callahan replied, clearly doing the same as him, for the moment it seemed like blanking Vance out was the way to deal with this. Not that he minded blocking out the NCIS Director. LaSalle had never been fond of authority figures, and that hadn't changed despite almost a decade with NCIS.

"And I'll be here to help with that." He reassured her, not wanting her to think that he'd actually leave her alone in this city. New Orleans was patient, but he didn't want to try and navigate it alone if he were brand new. Having a guide could only be beneficial.

It seemed at that moment that Vance was fed up of being ignored, as he coughed loudly to get their attention. Both agent span back to the screen he tried to keep his face neutral. "SSA Callahan, anything you need from NCIS Agent LaSalle can help you get." He wasn't sure what Callahan would need from NCIS, but he was sure that she appreciated the gesture. "LaSalle, you have my authorisation for whatever is needed."

"Yes sir." He nodded, and a moment later the connection was cut and the NCIS emblem took the space where Vance's head had been only a minute or so earlier. They both just stood there in silence for a moment, until Callahan sagged against the table, and it was if she was only just realising what she'd been put in charge of.

"That wasn't what I expected from that." She muttered a few seconds after that, and he realised she really hadn't expected to be put in charge. From what he could tell, it wasn't common for the counter terrorism unit to be the leads. They were normally there to support locals. Today though, she was the leading lady.

"Normally I would argue, but then I remember how I was ready to beat the hell out of that kid yesterday and all he was confirming was that there was a van parked near Brody's place." It had been remembering that that had really told him that the idea was for the best. He forgot, quite often, how much King and Brody dragged him back from the edge, and he was sure that they would be proud of him recognising his limitations here.

"You wouldn't have gone that far." Callahan shook her head, clearly having more faith in him than he did himself. Could he have stopped himself? Feasibly yes, would he? That was another matter entirely these days.

"No, I might have, that's what worries me." It would probably always worry him, because until King had managed to tie him down and show him better ways to do everything, he had been worryingly close to breaking that boundary. He hated feeling like he was slipping back that way, so if he could stop it, he would.

"I don't think you'd cross that line, but I'll take control." He was glad that she gave in in the end. Sure, she still didn't believe that he could cross that line, but he would rather let her go on being naive about him if it meant she would take control. He could at least joke now.

"You don't have any choice now, both our directors have spoken." That was surely the end of the matter really. Neither of them had a choice now.

Callahan gave a little laugh that was a cross between panic and sarcasm, and it was one of the more amusing noises LaSalle had ever heard. A second later she nodded, as if remembering that Vance had mentioned his support from the director of the FBI. "That's true, they have."

"Besides, Brody trusted you to find Pride, so I trust you to find them both." Brody's trust really did mean that much, mostly because he knew how hard it was to gain her trust. The fact that everything Callahan had done since she'd gotten here had been aimed at finding the two missing agents helped, as did the fact she hadn't treated him like a nuisance. He wouldn't make it easy though. "That doesn't mean I'm going to be easy to work with."

"Honestly, LaSalle, I think I'd be disappointed if you were." She replied to that, and he smiled again. She really had gotten the pattern of this office in a short time, especially as most of the time he'd been with her alone. For all she could have known he was just a ridiculously argumentative person, but she had known, or suspected, otherwise. He just wanted for Brody and King to be found alive, and right now she was their best hope for that, because she wasn't as emotional about this situation. He could accept that.


	12. Chapter 12

**I'm fucked up. I admit. This chapter is fucked up. Not the most fucked up (that honour goes to chapter 15) but this is pretty high up there. ANYWAY. If you want a totally different type of fucked up, go and read PinkAngel17's story "I'm Sorry". She wrote it to punish me for doing something unspeakable but it was like ridiculously good so I made her post it. Anyway. R &R as always.  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day Eleven**_

She had still been mostly asleep when the door had opened again and she and Pride were pulled apart. As they were the same barking voice was the one that took her over. "Up, get up." He commanded, and she wondered if he understood how much damage they'd done to her over the last week. She could barely sit up properly for longer than a few minutes. Let alone try and stand, she'd fall before she'd taken a step.

"She can't move, haven't you done enough!" She suddenly heard echo through the room. She knew that was Pride trying to drag the attention to him. He'd done it every time they'd come in here, and a couple of times he'd stopped some of the abuse, but not all the time, and she could already see that the leader wasn't going to be stopped this time.

"Shut up." She heard the telltale crunching of a fist hitting skin, and knew that Pride had taken a fist for his troubles, then from his side of the room she heard them chain him. While the ones on her side were still waiting for her to sit up. "Bring the chains."

"Huh?" She finally brought herself round enough to try and verbally reply. That took more than bringing her mind took right now. Thinking was simple, verblising those thoughts was hard. Between the bruises and things to her face, and the times she'd been in a choke hold her throat and voice weren't the easiest thing to warm up. She needed to reminded to not say anything. No matter what they did to her. "Pride. Don't." She shouted as the chains were fastened around her wrists and her arms brought above her head where they affixed to apparatus hanging from the ceiling to keep her up.

"I won't, baby." Pride shouted back to her, and a sickening crunch a second later told her Pride had taken another fist, this one likely to his side. She wondered how many ribs they had broken between them. At least hearing him tell her he wouldn't was something, and she heard a grunt and then Pride shouted again. "I won't." There was no crunch this time, and the chains remained silent, so clearly he'd stopped, or was unconscious, but the latter would make all this worthless.

"Now, tell us the location." Brody briefly saw the look of perverse pleasure in the leader's eyes as he stepped round her. Whatever happened, he was enjoying this. He was enjoying causing her as much pain as he could, and making sure that whatever he did, it wasn't quite enough to kill her outright.

She wasn't sure what she was expecting today, but the immediate fist to the gut didn't come. She was preparing herself for that, expecting it. It had become an almost daily routine. They would storm into the room to question Pride, only she was the one they'd abuse. It was a sound tactic, and she kept telling him not to talk. She didn't want to risk national security just so he could save her.

When the pain didn't come she relaxed a little, and then she heard it before she felt it, a sizzle and burn then excruciating pain as what felt like some sort of heated knife slit into her back. It was worse than anything she'd experienced so far, and hearing her skin as it burnt on the blade just made it all worse. She had no idea what they were using, other than that it hurt.

There was acid in her throat, and she had to will herself not to vomit. She was certain she screamed, or did she. She wasn't aware anymore. She could hear the chains straining and knew that Pride was struggling to get to her even though he must surely know by now that the chains would hold.

A second later, after a moment or two of relief, there was another barked question, a shouted retort, and the searing knife hit her skin again. It pressed deeper, and she knew the only reason she wasn't bleeding was because the heat of the knife was cauterising her wounds. Meaning they could come back and do it again in a few days.

Pride was shouting something, she didn't know what about. She prayed silently that he wasn't telling them what they wanted to know. If he did they'd just be dead. The desire to vomit lessening as time went on, and there were more slices made to her back. More proof that Pride was ignoring them, not answering them, and doing exactly what she'd begged him not to.

Losing count of the slices made she started to disconnect, to focus on anything else. As the days went by she'd found that was easier to do. Eventually she felt the chains loosen and she fell to the floor. Rough hands following a second later freeing her hand. After a few more seconds she heard the tell tale _flump_ that told her Pride had been released.

It only took a few seconds for him to reach her, but he wasn't quite fast enough to stop her from crying at the pain. There wasn't an inch of her body that wasn't in pain right now, and she was trying to focus in something else. Pride was that something, because he needed reassuring probably more than she did. "Hey, I got you."

"They cut me." She mumbled, apparently her brain and mouth having a mild disconnect, but she had wanted to ask about them. Her voice sounded a little weaker than it had before, and she felt a little more awful.

"I know." He whispered into her ear and wrapped himself around her. She winced a little when he touched her back, but she didn't want him to move away either. They didn't get much comfort in this room, so she wasn't going to turn away from the little she did get, and all of it came from him. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He apologised again, just as he had every time they'd left since she'd gotten here, but she didn't blame him.

"Not your fault." She kissed the arm she was resting her head on, then she wondered about her back, she still couldn't feel any blood, and she felt that was either a good sign or a very bad sign. She still didn't know what they'd been using, and right now she didn't think she'd want to. "Is it bad?"

"No, they'll heal." He had pulled back to look at her back, then leant down and kissed her shoulder before sitting up."They may scar, but they'll heal." She was glad about that, but rolling on to her back she winced again, the slices and other abrasions on her back all unhappy about her weight being on them. "God I wish we weren't here." Pride muttered quietly, and she wondered if he hadn't expected her to hear him.

"Hey, look at me." She sat up too, her back and stomach screaming at her, but she needed for Pride to understand that they would get through this when he lost hope, she'd lose hope, and that would be the end of both of them. Either he'd give in and they'd be killed, or they'd just both stop fighting, curl up in the corner and die of their injuries. She wanted neither. "Things are awful right now but I believe that together, you and me, we can get through this."

He leant forward and rested his forehead against hers. She was mindful of his bruises, the injuries that would leave him covered in new scars. She knew that her body was marred with them too, not just the slices to her back and sides. "I love you so goddamn much."

"I know, King." She whispered as he sat forward and kissed her. She was glad that they could still connect, somehow, despite this place, and this situation. When they got out of this place would be the real test.

"That's why you're here though." He looked down and away from her, clearly letting the guilt win. One day she would make him see that this wasn't his fault. She knew LaSalle and Beth would find them before they were killed, but she hoped they came soon, because she wasn't sure how much longer she'd be able to last. She still didn't blame King, but he clearly did. "The fact I love you is why we're in this mess."

"I don't blame you, please don't blame yourself." She didn't want him to think this was his fault. She didn't blame him for the fact these terrorists had decided that she was the best way to make him talk. She would keep telling him not to talk though, and she was sure he'd listen to her. That was part of their dynamic, and that was more important now than ever. They would get out of here. She had faith, somehow, she still had faith.


	13. Chapter 13

**Soooooo finally there is something not being done to Brody.  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day Twelve**_

He had spent any time they weren't strung up being questioned curled up around Brody. At this point she was fading, he could tell that. Her injuries were severe and she just wasn't up to much now. She was barely eating, and that was the bit that worried him the most. He wanted to protect her, and he would until he couldn't anymore. When he heard the doors open he let go of her and started to move in front of her, trying to distract them from her.

It didn't work, and a moment later the beefy ones were dragging him away from her, and another one was over Brody. A second later that one stood up and shook his head. "She's too weak today." That was a relief, for her at least. he wouldn't have to watch them kill her, because that's what would happen if they had tried to do anything to her today. She wouldn't survive it.

"Chain her up, leave her over there." It seemed their leader had a heart after all. OK maybe it wasn't a large one, but at least he wasn't going to push her. She was definitely too weak for this, and he knew it. A moment later, Pride was face to face with the leader, the hatred obvious in the leader's eyes.

"You are going to answer my questions." The voice was quiet, the tone sinister. It had been a long time since Pride had heard something that chilled him quite so deeply. It was something that only the most angry, or the most pathological of the world could get to. Pride wasn't sure where on the spectrum the leader fell, but he was willing to bet he was a bit of both.

"No, I'm not." He couldn't think of a smart-ass way to answer his question, so he went with the direct approach. He was just going to talk and ramble and hope that that was enough for them. He was sure that if he did, everything he spoke about would be Meredith Brody, because he wanted her to hear all his reasons for having fallen for her. If they were going to die, he wanted her to hear that.

"One day, if you don't, she and you will both be dead." The leader threatened again. That same sinister voice. Pride had to wonder if he practiced it. It just seemed to be a little too perfectly level. As for he and Brody being dead. He was expecting that. Sooner rather than later.

"I can live with that." That was a poor choice of words, but right now, he could live with knowing he and Brody died protecting their home and country. he was immensely proud that they could say that, and that neither of them had said anything so far.

"We'll see." The leader smirked, and that gave his face an odd slant, another thing that Pride would never say. Given that he had survived being repeatedly tortured at this point he was willing to bet that was something that even torture wouldn't get out of him.

The two burly underlings he'd noticed before then came and grabbed hold of him. He wasn't sure what they were going to do, but as they brought the large bucket of cold water he suddenly had an idea. Water torture just wasn't what he had been expecting this late into the game.

Being pushed to his knees Pride tried to fight them off, but the two men were way too strong for him in his weakened state. They were probably both double his size, and he wasn't looking forward to trying to get them off. It would be hopeless, and he'd probably end up with injuries, something he wasn't wildly interested in experiencing.

So he accepted the inevitable, and viewed the water bucket as just another trial he was going to need to face. It wasn't going to be easy, but he would get through it. As the first question was barked at him he took a deep breath and tried to let it out slowly, but a moment later his head was underwater, and he was being held there by hands he couldn't fight off.

The more questions there were the longer he was held under. He coughed and spluttered, he could feel the water on his chest, no matter how much he as hoping that it wouldn't settle there. He just wanted to try and breathe and focus on what needed to be done. Every answer he gave was what he'd just been thinking about. He hoped she heard him.

When they were finally done he was thrown aside, the bucket taken away. the restraints that had been placed around Brody were taken away, and she seemed to be a little stronger now than god knew how long go that torture had started. After a few seconds he heard the grunts that told him Brody was coming to him. "Can you breathe?" She asked, and he had to think seriously.

"Barely." He was getting air into and out of his lungs, so he was sure he was alive, it just didn't feel like it. His chest was tight, and he couldn't really focus on his breathing as much as he would have wanted. He still felt like there was water in his mouth, and his nose.

"You can talk though." Brody teased after a few minutes and moved a little closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. It was amazing that she felt comfortable enough with him to do that, especially given the situation they were in. He wasn't sure he would have had a reason to go this long if she hadn't been who they put in here with him.

"Yeah." He replied after another few minutes. He just wanted to learn to catch his breath deeply again. He might see if Brody could teach him what she used. At the very least, he could learn how she calmed herself down when they were working and Chris was being his usual idiot self.

She was clearly thinking on both similar and different lines, as she slowly stroked the hair away from his temple and smiled as she leant in to kiss his cheek softly. She then spoke almost directly into his ear in a calming, loving tone. It was the kind of tone that made Pride feel like he was home, and somehow made him feel like he was safe. "I'm proud of you, Dwayne."

"What?" He asked, a moment later, completely taken aback by the statement. It wasn't that he necessarily disagreed with her statement, but he didn't understand why she felt that way. It was his fault they were both here, and it was his fault she was hurt. There was no reason at all for her to be proud of him. Not that he could see.

"Everything they've done to us, and you still haven't told them what you know." That was valid, but he also didn't know anything. He wasn't as well informed as they'd thought, and that no doubt frustrated them, but he really didn't care, and never would. The 'not knowing anything' part of him though definitely helped him not tell them.

"Helps when you don't know anything." He smiled a little, wrapping his arm around her back and trying not to catch any of her wounds. He knew that she was in pain, and that large parts of her back were lucky not to be infected, but he was going to take the small victories. That included what she was saying, and clearly she thought the same.

"Maybe, but I'm still proud of you." She kissed his cheek, and actually ate some of the gruel they were served as lunch. He was just proud to see her eating again. It seemed like too long since she'd eaten, and he was happy she did. He sat watching he eat, getting happier that she was. When she'd finished she looked at him seriously, then smiled weakly. "Thank you for all the nice words."

"Of course, they were true." He replied, and couldn't help but smile a little. Meredith Brody didn't understand how important she was to him, and that was something he was going to work on fixing when they got out of here. He needed to hold on hope that they were going to get out of there. And they would, he was sure.


	14. Chapter 14

**A break in the case?  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day 13**_

LaSalle had pulled up in Brody's area of the city, the area where most of her CIs were based, that generally meant that he was going to get chased out. This section of working girls did not warm to him, probably because he wasn't the one specifically tasked with their protection. At least Callahan was with him. She looked more Vice than he did, and since he had been Vice, that was an achievement. Clearly, this girl remembered him, even though he didn't have a clue. "I'm not speaking to him."

"You don't gotta speak to him." Callahan said, no matter how many days he'd been working with her now, he couldn't quite get used to her accent. Clearly though, it had a calming effect on the woman in front of her, he hung back on the other side of the car, trying not to look threatening. "Speak to me."

"Where's Brody?" She asked, and there was a tremor of fear there. She didn't trust Callahan, not yet at least. Maybe she would soon, but right now the CI didn't trust. The fact that neither LaSalle nor Callahan knew her name probably didn't help.

"That's why we're here." Callahan broke that news gently, it wouldn't do for any one if the CI panicked rather than trusted them. It was going to be important that they not think that Brody's disappearance did something bad. "She's been abducted."

"I no help." There, again, was the panic. Callahan managed to make it look threatening to outsiders but comforting to the woman in front of them. He wanted to sit and study this woman for years. She couldn't be much older than he was, but she just had everything together. It was really different, not exactly what he expected from the FBI most of the time. She had skills, and he wanted to learn them.

"You can help. You might know the men who have her?" She wasn't pushing hard, but it was hard enough that the CI started looking at her a little more kindly. She still looked at him with suspicion, but for now she was engaging with Callahan.

"I no talk here. Arrest me. I do something, you arrest me." He looked at Callahan and was about to shake his head. There was no way they could agree to that. Unfortunately the CI didn't wait.

The woman started to rush her, and LaSalle had his gun into his hand in a second. Sure enough, he normally didn't mind if someone rushed the FBI, but right no Callahan was on his turf. He kept his weapon trained on the girl as he came round to car and Callahan span out of the hold he was in and had an arm behind the CIs back. "Whoa, whoa. OK."

Callahan cuffed the hooker as she rushed her, given that Callahan was smaller than the CI she was talking to, it was no mean feat. LaSalle was getting ready to intervene, but it was obvious that Callahan was actually holding her own. He wasn't really surprised, but he was awed. Much like when Brody had first come to New Orleans. What was it with these women? Where did they come from. Add Borin into the mix and he would have way too much on his hands.

He left Callahan to transport her to interrogation reporting that they had brought someone in for questioning. He didn't mention an arrest, and he certainly didn't mention a CI. It wouldn't be worth his life when Brody got back if he endangered one of her CIs even if it was for her. It was a good half an hour later that he made it to interrogation, but it didn't seem like Callahan had gotten all that far. "You didn't want to talk?"

"They have spies everywhere." The girl replied, and he wondered how paranoid living the way she did every day had made her. He wasn't sure he could live as a CI, or as anything else that required him to drop conversations with friends. He had to leave at a moment's notice. He wasn't good at that. These types of CI deserved props. "I think I know where Brody is." That attracted his attention.

"Tell us, so we can help her." Callahan pressed. She was doing well at keeping things aimed at Brody rather than the men who may have her and Pride. She was more likely to protect her possible pimp rather than her protector.

"I don't know exactly. But there is a place." This was getting better every minute. They might have a place where they could look. He kept his fingers crossed that this would work out to be right, because he knew that after this long they were likely to make it much longer.

"Right?" The more LaSalle watched, the less impressed he was with her interrogation style. Maybe it was because he was used to Brody and Pride, two masters at this art, but he just wasn't feeling Callahan's style. It seemed too passive.

"10 or 20 miles from the city. Their bases." Now they were getting somewhere, bases. That would be where Brody and Pride were being held. She did say bas _es_ though, so he wondered how they would narrow that down. "They have five of them. I don't know which one." Damn, they were so close. So close and still so damn far.

"You know they have our people?" Callahan asked, and it took everything in LaSalle not to burst in there and demand answer. He didn't care how nervous and worried someone was. This girl could be a material witness or an accomplice, and he wasn't sure that using the kid gloves was the best idea.

"They spoke about two people they had. High profile." The sniffles combined with the accent were making it hard for him to follow, but the person she'd been telling Callahan about when he came in was obviously the ringleader of this gang, or cell. Whichever they preferred. "There were no details."

"Thanks Mariska. You can go." Callahan stood up and opened the door letting the girl out, and handing her over to one of the other FBI agents that had been stood outside the door, then she walked into the observation room where he was stood.

LaSalle didn't get it, and he was going to say as much to Callahan. He didn't get her, one minute she was going all out, and the next she was compassionate and comforting. How could she be so many things. Mostly right now though, he didn't get why she was letting the CI go on so little information. She'd barely said anything at all, and definitely not enough for them to find Brody and Pride on.

"You're letting her go?" He asked, incredulously. It was hard for him to keep his voice down, not that he minded in a room full of FBI agents.

"She doesn't know me as well as she does Brody, she's not going to give the full story to anyone but Brody, so let's take what we got." Callahan drew a circle and wrote 'computer'. Then wrote the word 'particulates;'. That was how he realised that the way Callahan had does this meant that they would be ready to go in the next day or so. "Give the radius to your computer guy, then your tech nerd can match the particulates."

"You thought this through, didn't you?" He commented, glad that either she had the fastest brain he'd ever met, or she literally planned for every eventually. On her current form he was actually happy to put bets on both of them being an answer. That she would think of something she needed to plan, but could think fast.

"It's my job to." She just deflected, and he smiled. He was being an asshole, and he knew it. He should apologise.

"Thanks. I know I'm a hardass just... they're my friends." That was surely close enough, he thought. Maybe it wasn't an actual apology, but it was halfway there.

"I get it LaSalle, I'd be the same if it were any of my team." She thought for a minute, and he saw one of the members of her team pass by. "Except Fletcher." The woman who had just walked by rolled her eyes and tutted.

"What's wrong with Fletcher?" LaSalle asked, not actually sure when he wanted to question this woman's sanity.

"I dunno, I just think I'd have more fun shooting her six than protecting it."

"I can hear you, you know? Asshole." There was the proof that this had been teasing between teammates. He and Brody said similar things to each other, often. He wondered how Pride lived with them both sometimes. They had similar senses of humour, and that made situations like this more fraught than they probably should have been.

"Oh I knew." Callahan smiled then looked back at LaSalle, more and more he was understanding why she and Brody worked as friends. Every thing she showed him that wasn't related to the case was something he could see Brody doing. "It's a thing."

"You know, I didn't understand how you and Brody worked as friends but now I get it, you're an odd bird Callahan." She was, and he was sure that was part of the reason at least. He couldn't imagine it not being.

"And people wouldn't have me any other way." Callahan smiled at him, already sifting through notes of things she could send to Patton. LaSalle liked how she worked, and he had to admit to himself, if he didn't know she was married and the circumstances were different, he would almost certainly have tried putting the moves on at this point.


	15. Chapter 15

**This chapter is the one that even made PinkAngel17 say that I needed Jesus. To be fair I probably do. Anyway, enjoy my fucked up brain.  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day Fourteen**_

The dreams were the easiest part of all this. In them she could be anywhere. She could be back home in the office in New Orleans, or she could be out at sea on the family boat or she could be any number of places. Not one of those places was here. This dank, dreary room where she had lost far too much of herself. She wasn't sure how much more of this she could take, and while she wanted to stay here for Pride, she knew there was going to be a time, soon, when that wouldn't be enough.

Right now she was dozing in that area between awake and asleep. She liked this space too, because normally she was most aware of what Pride was doing. Normally he was laid around her, holding her gently or stroking her hair. That was what she focused on in these waking hours, what Pride was doing. She didn't feel him, and recently that was unusual. Then, just before her mind was fully awake, she felt the first new instances of pain and screamed at the top of her lungs.

When she was finally able to focus again she looked at the room. Pride was strung up in his usual position, but she was nowhere near hers. Instead she was sat where she'd slept, her foot having been placed in something like a vice, something that squeezed it tightly. "She doesn't need to be going through this." Came a voice, the one she recognised as being that of the leader.

"Don't, please. Don't." She begged, hoping that Pride could hear her. She didn't want him to say anything just because of what she was going through. She wasn't sure it would work, but she had to give it a try. She didn't want him to put anyone else in any danger.

"She said please don't." The leader said loudly. Brody wasn't surprised that the only methods that the leader did himself were the particularly brutal ones. The ones that only someone who enjoyed the suffering of others were happy to do. "She doesn't want me to do this." He continued, and she wanted to point out how wrong he was, but her tongue felt swollen.

"She doesn't want me to talk, jackass" Pride commented, and Brody let out a wry smile as she heard the sarcasm in his voice. She loved hearing that, and it so rarely happened where she could see it.

"Is that so?" He slammed the hammer down and Brody screamed, slumping forward. The pain too intense for anything else. "Is that what you meant?" The leader snapped at her. She hated when he spoke directly to her. As it meant she had to concentrate or one or both of them would suffer he consequences.

"King, say nothing." She said louder, a little more in control of her voice. Marginally. She wished she was able to convey the terror and elation of what they were doing a little better, rather than just verbally or to a small group of people.

"Maybe you were right, so you're both misbehaving." The leader said, and Brody was sure this wouldn't well end well for either of them. They were no doubt going to been seen too, and those things we're going to have to go see everyone., the few things she'd caught him doing and claiming to do were worrying in the extreme, at least to her.

Pride was clearly struggling most with this method of information extraction. Maybe because while the heated knives were something that had happened, and had seemed the worst, Pride hadn't been as affected and she hadn't been in as much pain. This was totally different. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I can. Tell him how it feels girlie." That seemed less like a jack in the box. She was glad of that as it at least had meant that she wasn't going to be stuck with anything. Telling someone the pain she was in though, that was harder then she thought it would be. "Tell him what is happening right now." The leader was a commanding person, and right now Brody wasn't sure what to do other than what he told her to do.

"That's cruel and unnecessary." Pride argued, and clearly he didn't want to hear her and figure out what was trying to lean on and how long she could keep it going this up for. She knew that, likely, the next time they did this she would be as close to dead as was humanly possible. She didn't want to put that into words. If she had to, she'd focus on the foot and nothing else.

"I want you to know exactly what you're doing to this woman." She somehow wasn't surprised that that was what the leader wanted. He wanted for her to guilt Pride into giving up the information he supposedly knew. She didn't want to have any part of that. "Tell him!" The leader screeched and she had to think, to put it into words.

"My bones are crushing together, the nerves are being compressed and becoming inflamed." She managed to hiss out, thinking that she'd done rather well given the pain was fogging up her usual thought processes. All she really knew right now was that having your foot crushed was a horrifically painful situation, and she really wouldn't recommend it for anyone.

"You could stop this you know." Brody was suddenly white Hot angry with the wasn't fair that he put all this on Pride. Sure, he had the information, but there was no real reason for this. What she really wanted for this to all just be over with. She wasn't strong enough for this, but she had to be. "All I need are the names."

There was an instant of anger, when Brody could almost imagine that Pride grew in size, then she sensed the second before he exploded. "Go to hell." She heard bellowed louder than she'd expected. It was hard for where they were. She wanted to tell him again that she didn't want him to say anything. He'd listen to her, she knew that. So keeping repeating what she wanted was the best idea.

"Don't say anything King." She eventually managed to croak out loudly. She had words, but not many of them. She wanted to say more, to do more, but she couldn't right now. There were no words, nothing clever for her to say other than keep asking him not to give up just to save her. That was no reason to give up.

"I won't, Brody. I won't." That was all the reassurance she needed, and she started looking more internally, finding it easier to pretend nothing was going on if it was in her head. She just didn't want to go as fully as she normally did, caring about Pride so much more than saving her own mind.

"Give me the names, and I'll stop." Yet more taunting,more telling Pride he could stop this, but she knew that it wasn't really possible for him to stop this. The leader would find something else he wanted as an excuse to keep causing her pain. "All I need to do here is add a little pressure and this happens." There was a twist, an explosion of pain and a scream it took her a moment to realise came from her. The pain was excruciating, and her now-mangled foot was throwing even when the squeezing stopped.

"You're a sadistic son of a bitch." Pride shouted again, and that was when she realised that he was close to snapping enough that she hoped whatever was said next either snapped him into silence or shocked him the same way.

"No, I just know what I want, and exactly how best to get it." The leader looked at her with a sadistic smile then turned back to the leader was more attuned to her condition than she'd expected. "She's nearly dead Pride. Even if we space out our methods, she won't last long." That was the moment that she was determined she was going to stay alive through this as long as she could. She didn't want

"I know, and she knows. But she's telling me not to, and I'm always going to listen to her over you." He nodded at her and she couldn't help but be proud of him.

"Even if it costs her life?" The leader started again, but that question was how she knew that Pride knew what she wanted. That meant that he was going to do what she wanted, and that relieved her again.

"She chose this. I'm going by her wishes." She smiled a little in his direction, glad to know that what she had been telling him to do was still in his mind, no matter how much pain they caused her, or what they did to her. She knew this would be causing him more suffering than he'd let on. "Even if it kills me too."

"I'm sorry, but I'm doing the right thing." She mumbled, not sure if anyone else could hear or understand her now. The pain was beginning to win out, and she knew that she wasn't going to be able to do or say anything for a little while. She could feel every broken bone, and every damaged ligament as he kept crushing her foot under his hammer. She curled up and tried to ignore the pain, but she didn't succeed.


	16. Chapter 16

**That's pretty much all the torture done now, I think. This chapter is more emotional bonding and pain. I think the last chapter scared most people off.  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day Fifteen**_

She was crying from the pain again, he could tell. The damage to her foot made it hard for her to get comfortable, he knew that, and it meant he'd woken up to her crying more than once. He didn't know how long it had been, his sense of time had long since evaporated and he had no idea what day it was, but he knew that they needed a rescue soon. Time was running out, for both of them.

As she whimpered he just wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek. No matter what happened, he couldn't really cope with the sound of her in so much pain. "Baby, shush." He muttered, kissing her cheek again. He just wanted her to be alright, and at the moment it really didn't seem like she would be.

"I can't do this anymore King." Hearing Brody say that, crying against his chest again. He could understand why she was giving up. It had been a long time, it felt like months, and neither of them were anywhere near a hundred percent, he couldn't let her give up though, they needed each other. "I can't. I'm done."

"You're not done, you hear me. You are not done." He was going to keep telling her that. Because he didn't want to have to watch her die, or be left here alone. "You're only done when I say you are." And wasn't going to let her be done until after they were rescued.

"Tomorrow or whenever they are just gonna do something equally horrible to me and I don't have any fight left." That was the worst thing, all the bad was happening to her. He was getting some, but nowhere near as much as Brody, and he hated that. He wished he could take that away from her, so that she was safe.

"But I need you to fight." He was going to keep pressing that. He needed her to keep fighting. He needed her to make it through this. He didn't want to wake up and find that she'd given up in the night." I need you to beat this."

"Why?" She asked, and he felt his heart break a little. Surely she knew why he needed her. Not just here but everywhere. He needed her to make this worthwhile at all. He had never thought he'd feel as strongly for someone again after he and Lindabroke up.

"Because LaSalle and your friend and the others are coming." He was going to keep reminding her that their friends were on the way. They wouldn't leave the two of them somewhere like this, not permanently. He was certain that LaSalle would be making everyone try their hardest to find them. He could almost picture what was happening.

It didn't seem that Brody had the same vision. Maybe she just wasn't as sure of rescue, or maybe she just didn't have the fight left. "You don't know that."

"I do." He reassured her, placing a light kiss to her temple. He knew that Christopher Lasalle wouldn't let them go like this, and he also knew that, no matter what, they wouldn't stop until they'd got them back. It was something that was always happened when an Agent was kidnapped.

"You should tell me a story."Brody said out of the blue after another period of silence. How long had they been sat, just holding each other. He honestly loved getting to do that, but he hated that this was where they were having to do it. If he could give anything to take Brody home and hold her like this still, both whole and healthy, he would be much happier. But if she wanted a story, he'd find a way to tell her a story. Maybe he wasn't full of appropriate stories, but he was certain that if she gave him an idea of what she wanted to hear about he could do it.

"What about?" He asked, once again kissing her head. She shifted a little more into him, and he tightened his arm a little, still light enough that he didn't cause any pain, he hoped.

"Tell me one about Laurel, what she was like as a little girl." Well now, that was a topic he would never tire of. His daughter was mostly embarrassed at this point by the stories he'd tell, but since she wasn't here, and Brody had asked, he was going to tell her. Laurel and Brody were two of his favourite people, and he wasn't against talking about either of them for any amount of time.

"I will, if we do a deal." He had a sudden idea. There was a line she'd thrown out casually weeks ago, and he and Chris had been trying to get the story ever since. This was the perfect opportunity for him to find out the story and leave Christopher in the dark. That amused him in dark and mysterious ways.

"What?" She asked innocently. She'd clearly forgotten that he'd been trying to get the information out of her too. That was probably easy to do, as LaSalle was the most annoying person on the planetwhen he wanted to know something.

He smirked and she groaned, clearly guessing at the story he was going to ask. It probably wasn't hard for her to guess, since he and Chris had asked about it fairly regularly. "You tell me the bear story."

"Oh my god you remember that." She laughed, shaking her head. He was glad to be able to say he remembered it. He didn't think he'd ever really forget it. As long as he lived 'stop taunting that bear, Meredith' was going to live somewhere in his subconscious.

"When someone gives an example of their teacher's hounding them and one is 'Stop taunting that bear' it tends to stay in your memory." He laughed and kissed her head as she chuckled along with him. She'd been a tearaway when she was a kid, he could tell.

"OK, deal." She said eventually after looking at him for a few seconds then shook her head."You go first." Now he needed to think of a story. Something funny or heartfelt or both. He wasn't sure what would be best. But he could tell that she just needed something that would cheer her up. Then he wished he had a clock, which made him think of one of his favourite memories of Laurel. It was a good story, one he was sure that Brody would appreciate.

"Alright, when Laurel was about… six or seven… she had this love of a cuckoo clock in my grandmother's kitchen. One day she climbed onto the counter opposite it to watch it. She'd do that for hours." That clock had been something she begged to keep when his grandmother passed away when she was 9."This particular day she decided she wanted to get closer, so she stood on the counter and leant across, putting her hands either side of the clock, and got stuck. She shouted me for five minutes, A fact she's never let me forget, to pick her up and put her down." He had had to laugh a little first to get it out of his system. It had just been so funny."She never liked the clock as much after that."

"Aww, Laurel was an adorable child then?" Brody asked, and Pride couldn't help but nod proudly. She'd been a handful, but he was happy that she was his daughter. Even if she had done things like get stuck on kitchen counters when she was younger. She would hate him for telling that story again.

"Adorable, but she got into everything." He laughed and shook his head, kissing the top of Brody's again a few seconds later. Glad that she was joining in on the little bits of laughter and enjoyment of what they were sharing."Your turn, the bear story."

"OK, you win. The year Emily and I were 14 we had a trip to the zoo, and we took along a bag of bananas because they were our favourite fruit. Now we didn't know that bears liked bananas too, and our meeting point was near the bear enclosure." He could already tell this wasn't going to end so well. She was laughing about it though, so it couldn't be too terrible."So when Emily saw that the bear was interested in her banana she and I made a bet about who could come closest to touching the bear." Why would any sane person want to touch a bear."Five minutes in this bitch of a physics teacher looked up at us and shouted 'stop taunting that bear, Meredith'. I left the area then, but I was back. Four teachers that day told me to stop taunting a bear. It was great." He was not at all surprised that she'd been advised by numerous people that taunting the bear was a bad idea.

"Only you, babe. Only you." He laughed, trying not to make a lot of noise lest he draw the attention of the guards. That story was funnier than he'd expected it to be, and he'd expected it to be pretty funny.

"Hey, Emily did it too." She smacked him gently, clearly telling him that forgetting Emily was a bad move. It probably was really.

"Yeah but she didn't get caught." He shot back, knowing that if she had, Brody would have made a much bigger deal about it.

Brody looked up at him a moment then grimaced, making him chuckle again. He needed that more than he'd thought he did. For some reason it don't surprise him that she hadn't thought of it that way. She probably assumed that because she'd been caught that Emily would have been too. "You're right. Dammit."

"Feeling better?" He asked after another few moments, knowing that if there was a chance of them being able to get a couple of hours more sleep. Maybe they would both wake up somewhere else and find they'd been saved in their sleep. That was one of his nighttime dreams right now.

"A little."She replied nodding, he was glad that this time she didn't try to move the crushed foot that was going a wonderful shade of purple.

"Wanna try sleeping again?" He suggested, hoping that this distraction had been enough for her pain to ebb again and let her sleep. He refused to let her sleep without him next to her right now. She didn't need to wake up with some stranger stood over her.

"Yeah." She snuggled up into his chest and he kissed the top of her head. He knew that time was running out for them both, because when she gave up, he'd give up. All he had now was to hope that enough time had passed in the real world that they were close to finding them. Otherwise Loretta was going to have the hardest job in the world, and he wanted to save his best friend from that if he could.


	17. Chapter 17

**Do Callahan and LaSalle arrive in time to save Brody...?**

* * *

 _ **Day Sixteen**_

"They're here." A younger agent burst in, carrying a map. LaSalle had just been sat in one corner of the office for a while. Hours earlier he'd come in here for a reason, but he'd forgotten what it was and had just been sat almost asleep in one of the chairs. He'd been falling asleep almost anywhere for a few days now, though.

"You're sure?" She had to know that this information was from a legitimate source if that was all she was saying, not pressing or pushing, just asking if the agent who had brought it to her was sure. That was a good thing though, surely? They knew where the base was, the current base.

"I'm certain." The agent nodded, and Callahan seemed to be ready to go almost immediately. She stood up and started pulling her gear toward her. He tried to wake his body up again so that he'd be ready to go too.

"Right, well we should get in there now before the sun comes up." That was something he didn't understand. Why did they have to go before the sun came up. When NCIS ran raids, generally it was whenever they were all together.

"Why?" LaSalle finally came into the conversation, and at the jump Callahan gave she'd clearly forgotten he was even in the room with her. She had taken this room in the back offices to be her office while she was here, a place where she could study what they had before coming to any conclusions.

She recovered quickly though, and that made him happy, because he got an answer to his question. It was the middle of the night, and he was only still here because of the activity of the FBI team. "Because darkness gives us the best chance, and if we miss this window it's another day in there for them."

"Alright. I'm coming too." He stood taller, then started checking that he had the appropriate gear on. It probably should have said something to him that he had to check that, but he was too tired and too ready for this nightmare to be done to think about that now.

"LaSalle, we got this." She shook her head, but he needed to go.

"They're my friends, Callahan." He wouldn't be above begging, right now, to be allowed to help bring these assholes down. Add on the fact that it would bring closure on his own problems. That was going to be the important thing, for him. "Let me do this."

"Alright, but you partner me, and if I tell you to stop, you stop. Got it?" She spoke in a tone that gave no option for wiggle room. Clearly she was sure how this should go.

"What makes you think you can-" He started, but she just glared at him and cut him off before he could actually ask the question.

"Boss you around?" She asked it with a hint of sarcasm, and he knew he was in trouble. He remembered that Vance had told him she was in charge, so he wouldn't even have any back-up if he did disagree with her. "This is an FBI operation, and if you haven't noticed _Agent_ LaSalle, I outrank you." She was as no-nonsense as she could be, then turned and addressed her agents. "Alright guys. Load up. Archer, you're partnering Hernandez, I've got LaSalle."

"You sure boss?" One of the agents asked, he guessed she was Hernandez, but he didn't know for sure other than that she had shot him down on every idea he'd suggested within thirty seconds during the last meeting. He needed to remember the names of people who annoyed him better.

"I'm sure, get on it." She once again shouted the orders effortlessly and without many words. That was enough to tell him how often they'd done this type of operation. "Call in backup from the field office."

Her team didn't need telling twice, and he had to admit, they were very thorough, It took less than ten minutes for them to be rolling, everyone involved knowing that SSA Callahan was in charge. She hadn't batted an eyelid either. Once they had arrived, and set up, around the compound, she was clearly ready for this bit.

"This is the FBI, we have you surrounded we have a warrant." Callahan shouted loudly, and he heard it echoed in a few directions before he saw her nod to those around her and speak into her earpiece. "Go." Was the simple, one-word order and he followed her as immediately as he would anyone else giving that order. They went through the base, arresting people or shooting people as they went. A surprisingly small amount of gunfire was used, as obviously Callahan's pre-dawn plan caught many of them asleep.

The made it through a dozen rooms, but the last one was one where there was obvious light coming around it. As one agent kicked the door open, the collective agents winced a moment in the bright light. There were two piles in one corner of the room, the rest of it seemed to be various chains and other things that had been left here.

One of the piles in the corner of the room rolled away from the other and looked up. LaSalle recognised that form and was glad that they'd cleared the room, as he ran straight over and skidded onto his knees, almost certain that Callahan would go to Brody. "God, King!" He exclaimed as he saw the mess that was his friend's face.

"Check on Merri." He groaned, and LaSalle was glad that he had had the backup of Callahan, who had run straight past him to where Brody was laid, and was doing the same to Brody as he was doing to King. Making sure that they weren't booby-trapped, and in Brody's case, that she was still alive.

"SSA Callahan has her. It's OK." He said, trying to reassure his friend, but knowing that after this it was going to be damn near impossible to do so. He was going to want to know that Brody was alright, that she was being treated. LaSalle was with him to make sure he stayed still. He looked over at Callahan who nodded, telling him that Brody was alive.

It took a couple of hours for them to get King settled. He had to be sedated to stop him trying to fight them, but it had been for the best anyway. He was just sat by the bed with an arm around Laurel as she waited there too when there was a knock at the door followed by Callahan's head. "LaSalle." She said and motioned back toward the hallway. He took that as a clear sign she needed to talk to him and stood up.

"Sure, I'll be right back Laurel." He kissed her head as she nodded then smiled walking out the door and shutting it behind him. He followed Callahan a little away, where she leant on the protective boundary at the edge of the balcony. He looked out over the open space and just sighed, seeing the darkness falling again. Had it really only been one day. "I can't believe it's over."

"That's a common reaction from locals. You did good, LaSalle." He looked at her with a smile, it wasn't just that he was a local, but also that they were his friends. He knew she meant well though, so he just shrugged it off. Then she nodded at the door they'd just left and frowned. "How's he doing?"

"He's sedated, but should be fine." That had been the report the attending had given to Laurel anyway, She'd grabbed LaSalle and not let go when the doctor had been there, and the terror in her face had been obvious until she'd been told her should be OK. "He has some internal injuries they're monitoring, the start of an aspiration pneumonia and too many contusions to count, but he could be worse. Brody?"

Callahan's face told him that her report wasn't as hopeful as his. Not right now anyway. Not that he was necessarily surprised. Brody had looked a lot worse in the room, he was sure that that meant she was really fighting now. "Aside from the obvious stab wounds, broken bones and contusions, they've had to take her into surgery for internal bleeding. We should know her prognosis in a couple of hours." That was worse than he'd thought, but it made sense too. He hated that they were here, but at least it wasn't the worst it could be. There was one question that had plagued him since they had gotten there. Brody had only been taken for 11 days, how was she so bad.

"Damn, why did she have it worse?" He was probably going to regret asking that, but he still needed to know. Maybe not in this specific case but in others than Callahan had seen. She was obviously an expert in this type of crime, and that meant he didn't mind asking her as much as he normally would.

"From what we've seen of these type of abductions." He wasn't sure he liked the implication of that. Had she known this all along? Maybe she had been hoping she was wrong, just like he had been. He hated thinking that she might have been holding this back, but thinking about it seriously, it was probably better that she had. "I think you'll find they were trying to get Pride to talk, and thought that by torturing Merri he'd be more likely to do it."

"This is common?" It wouldn't surprise him if it was, normally it would be effective, but the report King had given had made it clear that he hadn't given anything up, and that that was largely because Brody had told him not to. He was proud of both of them for that. The pain Brody must have been in, yet she was still thinking about their boss and his information.

"Not common, but it happens." The way she said that made it sound like she'd dealt with situations like this too often. He didn't blame her for sounding tired. He was tired, and he had only dealt with one case. It must be hard dealing with many of these, one after another. After a moment she looked up at him again, and he'd never guess she'd been anything but cheerful. "My team are mopping up, then we'll be heading back to New York."

"Well, thank you for all your help, Callahan. I got it from here." He held out his hand and shook hers. Somehow not surprised that her first reaction to that was a smirk. He didn't know what was going through her mind, and he was fairly sure he should be thankful of that.

"Yes you do." She smiled then rubbed a hand on his arm before walking away. He would probably get on better with the FBI if everyone there was more like her or Fornell. They didn't put up with political bullshit, and had just done what was best for their cases. It gave him some hope. Now he was just going to have to deal with the effects of two seriously injured agents. Maybe now it was time he called in help from DC.


	18. Chapter 18

**This is the first (and only) chapter from the POV of Callahan in this fic. Tells a little more about her.  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day Seventeen**_

Bethan Callahan had been through the ringer the last two weeks. It wasn't that she wasn't prepared for that, she was and it wasn't unusual, it was more that she hadn't had a case end with such huge positives and such enormous negatives. She had two broken NCIS Agents on her hands, and a third that was so torn between his friends that he didn't know which way was up right now. That was why she'd decided to take some leave and stay. Geraint could bring the kids down to New Orleans, and they could all explore the city while she waited here. That was when she noticed a pair of eyes on her, and she already knew who it was. "Agent Pride, you shouldn't be here."

"You were one of our rescuers, right?" The question hung in the air, and she was glad he'd partially recognised her. They hadn't been formally introduced though. He'd been too worried about Brody and she'd been too busy arresting scumbags.

"Yes sir, Supervisory Special Agent Bethan Callahan, FBI counter-terrorism." She was used to giving that introduction over the last few days, in this situation though, it was suitable for them to be less formal. "Call me Beth."

"Dwayne." He shook her hand over Brody's bed then slipped into the chair on the other side, taking hold of her hand in his. "Why are you here?"

"With Agent Brody?" She asked, mostly just to be clear. She could answer for both, but as for why she was in New Orleans she hoped the answer was obvious, given that she had been instrumental in their release. So she focused on why she was here, in this hospital room. "I've known Merri a long time, longer than you have, and we're friends. I didn't want her to wake up alone."

"She might not wake up." He said simply, and Beth just shook her head.

"I know." She admitted. It wasn't something that she was ready to accept though. She was sure that Brody would be alright.

Pride shook his head and ran his hands over his face. "I've gotten used to being in the same room as her the last two weeks, the last couple of nights were strange." She could imagine that, somehow. They had been all but constantly together for two weeks, of course he was used to her presence.

"That's why you've come here?" She asked, wondering what Pride felt, and why he'd chosen to escape his room and come here. She was certain he hadn't been allowed to leave and come here. She was actually fairly sure that he was suppose to be asleep. He clearly wasn't.

"I wanted to check on her, I didn't expect anyone to be here." Pride frowned, and she didn't blame him. She couldn't leave Brody alone though, maybe if Pride was here she could leave, but as it was, he had barely come over the threshold.

"I was going to go home when we rescued you but I couldn't leave her." She had been all packed up to go home, she'd been ready, then she'd come to say goodbye and she couldn't leave without knowing that Brody was going to be OK. So she had spoken to SSA Feharo, her unit chief, and her husband, and arranged to stay for a while. "I called my husband for an impromptu family holiday while I wait, cleared it with my unit chief too."

Pride looked at her, leaning back against the wall. That was when she realised that hardly anyone knew how she and Brody had met. "How do you know her?"

"She helped me with a case a few years ago, and then every time we were in the same city we'd get dinner." Their dinners had normally been full of really stupid conversations, and bitching about their families and their jobs.

"How often did that happen?" He asked, and Beth had to think, seriously, for a few moments. It had been a strange relationship, and a strange friendship.

"It depended on the job. When I was BAU, surprisingly regularly." Somehow, their travels to various cities on the continental US seemed to sync up relatively well. It had been something she enjoyed a lot, and their dinners was something that she had thought about fondly. Then she'd been based in one city, and Brody in another. "After that it dropped off, two or three times a year until last year, when we didn't see each other at all."

"After she moved to New Orleans?" He asked, and she nodded. Though that wasn't all Brody's fault. She had been on an extended leave, and that had made it complicated for them to speak. They had traded a few emails, but not many.

"Yeah, and I was on leave for the first few months. I was shot and needed some pretty hefty surgery." That was not an experience she cared to re-live, but hopefully she wouldn't again. It was rare that a terrorism raid went quite so badly. She had normally been through worse, but less permanent, problems when she'd been in the BAU. "My husband is a doctor so he kept watch, plus my kids."

"You have kids?" There was a note of surprise, something that always seemed to come up when she mentioned she had kids. Then she'd met most women who were Agents who couldn't even imagine having a family. Pride smiled at her after a second and asked another question. "How many?"

"Three. Ffion is 10, Cerys is 7 and Dafydd is 5." She'd missed her munchkins while she'd been in New Orleans. Most of her assignments rarely lasted this long, and she'd never had a reason to stay at the end of a case before. Thankfully Agent Feharo had been more than happy to grant her leave with her family and something about the way Pride had asked made her wonder if he was a parent too. "You?"

"One, Laurel. She's in college now." The first smile she'd seen since coming here had been when he said his daughter's name. That gave her some hope that the psychological scars from this weren't too terrible. "I'm glad she didn't have to see the downside of this."

"I sit here, next to Merri and I realise how lucky I am. I've been in scrapes, I've been captured by suspects and unsubs on cases. I've been hurt in the line." She'd lost things in relation to the job, and she'd struggled and had problems. She'd never had to face what Brody and Pride had been through. She knew people who had, some of her former colleagues at the BAU had been affect by similar. But she'd always been spared that. "But never this. I've never been through what you two went through."

"I hope you never do." He looked her over from the corner where he'd settle a few minutes earlier, and clearly he honestly thought that. The injuries she could see on him, and the pain he was obviously still in, he sincerely hoped nothing like that would happen to her. She didn't really know what to say, so she fell silent, until she thought of what she wanted.

"Most of all, right now, I just hope Merri wakes up." She was sure that that was something they were both hoping for. Clearly Merri was important to them both.

"Me too." She had to agree with that. She hoped her friend woke up. Over all the years and all the assignments they'd been on together. All the dinners where Brody had complained about her lack or relationship, while Beth had complained about the struggles of marriage. It was an important friendship, one she'd make more effort on now.

Beth looked at his face and she could tell that there was more than just the friendship of colleagues there. She'd been there, something she wasn't proud of, but she had. It gave her a little bit of an edge in recognising those emotions in others. "You two are close, aren't you?"

"We've become very close." Pride finally stepped up to the bed. He'd been hanging back for so long that she'd wondered if he cared about appearances if he sat next to the bed. But she was the only one here, and given Brody's parents weren't able to make it just yet, she would be the only one here for a while.

"I guessed you were when, while you were missing before she was captured, Merri told me she'd been sleeping in your room." That had been a surprising confession, and at the time Beth hadn't pushed, mostly because Brody had made it clear that she shouldn't. That had been enough for her to know, though. There was something more than colleagues between them. "She's always been big on boundaries, I knew that for her to be sleeping in your room there had to be something special. Romantic?"

"Sort of." The look that Pride was giving her friend told her that it was. She had seen dozens of partners stood over their spouses beds at the hospital with Geraint, and they all had that look on her face.

"You'll figure it out." Beth smile, she could see Brody working with this man. He was as stubborn as she was, Beth could see that. So when Brody was awake again they would be able to figure out where they were. "When she wakes up."

"If she wakes up." Pride sounded a little broken at the idea that she wouldn't. They both knew that there was a chance she wouldn't. Her injuries had been severe, but she was strong, and Beth was certain that she'd be alright in the end.

"She will." Meredith Brody had been stubborn as long as Beth had known her. This wasn't the way she'd go. Wasting away in a hospital bed. If ever someone was destined for a heroes' death it was Brody. That was what made Beth so certain that her friend would pull through. Not to mention Merri wouldn't want her friend, or whatever Dwayne Pride was to her, to feel guilty for too long.


	19. Chapter 19

**This one... I'm not sure why I wrote this chapter.  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day Eighteen**_

Pride had managed to escape from his room again, he wasn't sure where Christopher had gone, other than out of the room. Whenever he managed to get out of his room he always went to the same place, which no doubt made it easier for Chris to find him when they eventually realised. He could breathe clearly, for the most part, and he was taking his meds. He didn't need to be locked up too. So he made it to Brody's room, and was glad that Callahan and her husband were down the hallway and not paying any attention to him. He needed to see her, and this was the easiest way for him to talk. "Hey, you. I would have been here more, but Christopher and Callahan have been keeping me out."

"I know that you're still fighting, all these beeping machines tell me that, but I wish you would wake up and tell me that yourself." He really missed her telling him that he was being an idiot, or pointing out that he was doing something stupid... like sneaking out of his hospital room just to see her.

"I still need you to fight, I still need you to be here kicking my ass." He really needed her there. He picked up her hand and pressed it to his mouth, just needing to feel like he could hold her tightly. "I don't think I'm ready to be to blame for you not making it."

"Your mom is here, and she's driving everyone mental. Seems like Callahan's kids are keeping her distracted." He had only met her mother for a few seconds before she'd whisked in to visit her daughter. All Pride knew right now was that the Callahan kids were taking up the time of anyone who wasn't at the hospital. Given that Callahan's husband was here to translate a lot of the medical speak for them, it had fallen on to anyone offering to help. "Her husband asks a lot of medical questions that I don't understand, but she nods along and asks things to."

"He then tells us that you're doing well, that you should wake up on your own soon. I hope it is soon." He muttered, kissing her hand again and lapsing into silence, just sitting and listening to the sound of the monitors and machines that Brody was hooked up to. They were both reassuring and terrifying.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been sat there in silence for, but when he next looked up there was someone at the door looking at him. He didn't know for certain who it was until he spoke, and then it was obvious that it was Christopher. "King. You're supposed to be in bed."

"You need to pay closer attention, I've been here about half an hour." He guessed, he had no real idea how long he'd been there. Half an hour seemed to be a fair estimation though. He wasn't sure that he would have been allowed to be in Merri's room much longer than that without someone noticing he was there and making him go back to his own room.

"I know, Callahan saw you come in, she convinced me to give you some time alone." Why didn't that surprise him. He'd thought she wasn't paying any attention, but of course she had been. Like any good agent, she wouldn't let that past her.

"Think she's gonna wake up?" He asked, not sure if Christopher could answer that or not, or whether he would answer it or not. Pride knew what the doctors said, and what everyone else said, and while he was trying to redirect himself from those questions, it didn't help that much.

"Everyone seems to be pretty optimistic." Chris said eventually, but that still didn't help. Pride just wasn't in the position right now where he could do anything more than worry and feel sick. Between the antibiotics for his pneumonia and the painkillers for his other injuries he was hovering between depressed and really high. Maybe that was why he expected her to be better than she was.

"I just want her to do something." He mumbled, beginning to feel tired all of a sudden. While he was sure that Christopher would welcome the chance to get him back to his room, Pride wasn't sure he was ready to leave.

"She will, but we have to let her heal." That was something else the doctors had been saying, pretty often, to him and the others. They needed to be patient, her body could only heal a certain amount at once. While he knew all that, he still didn't want to have to wait. "Come on, back to bed." Chris said, and at this point he couldn't really argue.

Just outside the door they almost immediately ran into Callahan, she had never been far from Merri's room in the two days since they'd made it back. "Hey Pride, is LaSalle taking you back to bed. Need a hand?" She asked, and Pride considered her for a moment before remembering that he hadn't walked anywhere for more than two weeks.

"Could use one, I'm still not used to walking quite so far."He admitted, normally he wouldn't ask for help, but right now he neededit. He still hated that he felt so weak, though, and he wanted to really try and get through.

"Bethan!" Callahan's husband sounded a little irate. He wondered what wa going on there. He didn't understand a word they said to each other, but he could still recognise the annoyance in a tone.

"Gwelwch, cariad." Once again, he had no idea had was said, but Callahan's tone was possibly even more irate than her husband's had been. Clearly he wasn't innocent in whatever had been going on between them there.

"What's going on there?" Pride asked as soon as the door was shut behind Callahan's husband, who walked into Brody's room without another look at his wife. Pride looked at Chris who clearly overheard the exchange too. They were investigators, that meant they were automatically nosy.

"You don't want to know." Callahan eventually ended up commenting. They walked back toward his room in almost silence, each of them think about whatever was on their mind. He wondered if they were all thinking about the same thing, the person who's room they'd all just left.

"Dinner tonight?" Christopher was the first to break the silence, and he looked over the top of Pride and looked at Callahan. Pride knew they'd had to work together closely after the last few weeks, so it was not a real surprise that they had gotten close while they were here.

"Sure, if you don't mind the kids screaming and Ger being grumpy." Was Callahan's answer, and Pride caught the smile.

"Sounds like last night." Chris laughed, and Pride began to realise that this wasn't maybe as innocent as he'd assumed it was.

"You're having dinner together?" He asked, wondering what was going on there. There was probably something innocent, but he wasn't sure whether that was likely given Chris' track record.

"With my husband and kids, before you get any ideas." Callahan replied immediately, and he wasn't sure if that was just a hair too fast or not. He hoped that there was nothing going on with her and Chris, but he knew his friend, and knew nothing about Callahan. So he wasn't going to rule it out.

"I said nothing." He held his hand up in defence deciding that it wasn't worth fighting about. Not with her and not right now. He had bigger fish to fry, so he'd just content himself with telling Chris to watch his back.

"You didn't need to." Callahan muttered, shaking her head as she walked out the door. He wondered for a moment if he'd offended her, but he found that he didn't really care too much. Just because her family was there it didn't automatically mean that things were all going alright and that she wasn't flirting with Chris, because he was definitely flirting with her.

"Stay put this time." Chris told him, but they both knew that Pride was already planning his next escape. He didn't yet know when it would be, but he would no doubt escape again before the end of the day. "Brody will be fine, and you can tell her whatever you were mumbling in person when she is awake."

"Thanks Christopher." Before his friend made it out of the door he decided that imparting a few last words of wisdom was a good idea. Purely because he knew how quickly Chris could get in too deep with something that was probably a bad idea to begin with, and it seemed they had enough problems already. "She's married, brother. Tread carefully."

"It's seriously not like that." Christopher defended, and Pride just decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. It wouldn't be the first time Chris had tried it on with a married woman. Though Callahan didn't seem at all receptive, or maybe she did and he couldn't tell. Or maybe all of this was a drug induced interpretation that wouldn't make any sense when he was off them. Anything was possible right now. Anything but Brody waking up.


	20. Chapter 20

**Sooooo... we're getting there now.  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day Nineteen**_

There were some things that LaSalle had become to associate with this extended time in the hospital, and one of them was their Welsh associate alternately threatening to murder his boss or giving him orders that King wasn't going to listen to. Callahan put up with a lot out of King to say that she had no real loyalty to him. She was here to make sure that Brody was alright, and that was it. She was doing well helping with both his agents though, she just threatened King more. "Sit your arse down, Pride." She shouted as she came out of the room to meet him, clearly knowing that he'd arrived.

"He arguing again?" LaSalle asked, not that it actually sounded like he needed to ask. He wasn't sure there had been a moment in the last few days where King hadn't been arguing with one or the other of them.

"Oh yeah, I swear if I hadn't left the room he was about to pull the 'you're not my real mum' card." Alright, he might not be able to believe that, but it was an amusing mental image. He was sure that if Callahan went back in there, one or the other of the two SSA's would be dead, and right now LaSalle might have to bet against his old friend. Callahan didn't seem to deal well with people who argued with her.

"I'll deal with him." No matter how hilarious he would find it if Callahan snapped, he thought that it would be best they not save King from terrorists only for him to be murdered by someone supposedly on his side. "Mind going sitting with Brody?" He asked, probably unnecessarily, given that Brody was why she was there.

"Sure. She doesn't argue with me." She seemed to realise that she'd said something a little insensitive before he had chance to say anything. He was still just staring at her when she held her hand up and grimaced. At least she noticed. "Poor choice of words, I admit, I didn't really think that one through." She muttered then shook her head and walked up the corridor.

King was pacing the room when LaSalle walked in. From the glance at the door he got, it was clear King had been gearing up to continue arguing with Callahan, and he actually looked a little disappointed that it was only LaSalle who came through the door, at least until he got himself back into gear. "Your girlfriend won't let me leave the room."

"She's not my girlfriend, and you should be nicer to her." He chastised, not entirely sure if it made sense that he was telling King to be nicer to someone he didn't know, but he probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her. LaSalle knew that King was only being stubborn because he hated being in hospital, and that he couldn't go and sit with Brody, but he should still be nicer.

"I want to go check on Merri, Chris." King complained a moment later, and LaSalle was glad to know that, at the very least, he'd been right about one thing. He was also sure that he would be able to barter his way into an easier day.

"If you sit quietly through this breathing treatment then you can." He started, laying the groundwork for later bartering. King needed to have one of these breathing treatments a day to combat the rather aggressive strain of pneumonia he'd developed, but the worry over Brody was making everything more difficult. "She's fine King."

"How do you know?" King asked, and LaSalle had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. It was harder than he wanted to admit, because the problem with this situation was that eye rolling seemed like a really good outlet for his frustration.

"Because I just came from her room." That was when LaSalle realised there was something even better than bartering to keep King away, and that was the elder Brody. They had both been surprised when Brody's mom had arrived the night before, and consequently none of them had spent very long in Brody's room since, though Callahan could seem to stand being there longest. "Her mom is sat with her, do you really want to get in there now?"

"Maybe I could stay in bed until my breathing treatment is done." King's tune changed almost instantly, and another chuckle needed to be suppressed, as in reality LaSalle couldn't blame King for that reaction. He was mainly here now so he didn't have to try and make small talk with Mrs. Brody again. "That might actually be a good idea."

"Good, I'm glad you finally see the wisdom." He laughed lightly, glad that something had finally convinced King that staying here and not making trouble for just a few hours would be for the best. Even if that thing was Brody's mom.

LaSalle sat down and ended up with his head in his hands. He was exhausted, but he couldn't seem to stay at home more than an hour or two, the problem with this situation was that his mind was always running at a million miles an hour, and he was worried about another call telling him King was kicking off. "Am I stressing you out?"

"A little." LaSalle admitted. It wasn't all King, but a few things would have been made easier if King just did as he was told. But that wasn't in King's personality really. "This whole situation is stressing me more than anything though, if I'm honest." He did hate everything about this, and he wanted his friend to know that. It wasn't really one single thing.

"Because Brody isn't doing well?" King pressed again, as if he was trying to catch LaSalle out into telling him that things weren't going well. Maybe it would be easier if they weren't, but the simple fact was they were. Brody was just healing, and that meant that she was being kept unconscious.

"They are expecting her to wake up any day now, actually." The doctors had weaned her sedation down over the last few hours, and he was sure that eventually she would indeed be conscious again, and at that point King would be able to stop freaking out. "She's doing brilliantly King, I just wish you'd pay a little more attention to yourself." LaSalle wanted his friend to realise Brody wasn't the only one battling the effects of the last few weeks, and he needed to be careful too.

"Nothing bad is gonna happen to me." King argued, and that was when LaSalle realised that King honestly didn't think the pneumonia was a big deal. Maybe it wasn't, but it could be if they stopped treating it aggressively.

"You don't know that." None of them knew that, the fact that the antibiotics and breathing treatments were working was a miracle. The chest x-rays were proving that, but they needed to stay on top of it. "You have a really nasty case of pneumonia, doctor Willems showed Laurel, Callahan and me the problem area in your lung, it's huge."

"Is he the big Hispanic doctor?" King asked, and for a second that made LaSalle pause. How did anyone make that mistake. He was fairly sure Lopez was the doctor King meant.

"Willems is Callahan's husband." He answered, still chuckling. It was the idea of Willems ever being mistaken for Hispanic. It was far too amusing a mental image.

That made King pause and look at him seriously, and for a moment. "I thought he didn't like you?" That was a fair point, though LaSalle wasn't entirely sure why Willems didn't like him. It was a mystery he didn't actually care about.

"He doesn't. He likes Laurel though, and he really likes his wife, and they both like me." Well, Laurel liked him. He still wasn't completely sure on Callahan. She was British though, and they were a little odd in general. Almost the minute he finished that statement he realised what he'd opened himself to.

"I hope you don't like his wife." King intoned, and while it was obvious now that King was teasing him, it still wasn't the funniest of jokes. He was trying not to get too grumpy about it, but it wasn't easy. Mostly because he was sure if Brody found out about this he'd be in trouble forever.

"You really need to get off that, it's been 24 hours." One day was all it had taken for that to get annoying. Besides, he'd sworn off married women after the last one had ended up in him having a black eye for a week, and Brody had teased him about the fact he'd been knocked out by a 25 year old ever since. That had been the moment he'd realised chasing married women was really not worth it. "There is nothing going on there."

"That's good to know, I'm glad about that, keep it that way." King cautioned, and it wasn't all that surprising that he was on that side, especially since he knew Callahan had children. Though that would have been a deal breaker for LaSalle anyway. He could be an asshole, but he didn't want to make things harder for kids.

"I'll stay away from her if you promise to stay in bed for the next 24 hours." A deal that would actually not change anything at all for him, that was the perfect type of deal. Between that and the knowledge that Mrs. Brody was in Brody's room would probably be enough to keep King in place. Probably.

"Deal." It seemed like a better deal to make than let King keep wandering around, even if it sounded like he was admitting he wanted to go near Callahan. Right now, it was a means to an end, and it might make King stay in his bed. It seemed like that was the only thing that would work right now.


	21. Chapter 21

**And now... the chapter you've all been waiting for...  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day Twenty**_

She wasn't sure where she was when she first came around, but it quickly became evident that she was not in that dank dreary cell. She could hear familiar voices talking quietly somewhere nearby, and the beeping of a machine that she assumed was a heart monitor. As she became more aware of her surroundings she groaned, suddenly feeling her body and how sore everything was. Probably not all that surprising given the injuries she'd sustained. As she moaned she heard the voices stop then as she squinted there were two figures, one either side of her bed. "Hey, look who's back with us." Said in accented English, a woman's voice. She deduced from that that Beth Callahan was the first one to speak to her.

"Hi there. Don't try to sit up too fast, you'll make yourself sick." Another accent, a male voice. That made her smile to herself a little. LaSalle was with her. That meant that she was in New Orleans, she had really needed that knowledge as it meant she was home. "You were rescued Merri, you've been here for 5 days unconscious."

"King?" She managed to cough out. As her eyes opened and she confirmed that it was Beth and LaSalle at her bedside. She was glad that they were there. She loved them, LaSalle was basically her brother, Beth was one of her best friends, and seeing them made her know she was home. But she needed to know about King, she needed to know that he was OK.

"He's fine, just down the hall." Beth put her hand on Brody's shoulder, making sure that Brody couldn't move. She was glad to hear that King was alive, that he was fine, she was still worried and probably would be until she saw him. "Now you're awake he'll be here in a minute."

"And it'll be even harder to drag him away." LaSalle smiled, and that made Brody feel a little better. She wasn't used to being like this, and she hated that this was where she was right now. Hospitals had never been her preferred places.

Brody once again tried to sit up a little, but it was obvious that neither of the people sat by her bed was going to let her sit up at all. "Careful, you've been here five days." Beth put her hand on her shoulder again and this time added pressure. "You were in a bad way, but you're doing OK now."

"Tell me." She ordered, she wanted to know about her injuries. She wanted to know if they were as bad as she'd imagined them. She was sure that the foot was as bad as she thought, she could feel it. She was now wondering about the rest.

"You had some internal bleeding and needed surgery." LaSalle started, and that somewhat didn't surprise her at all. The fact that she'd survived the surgery was the more surprising part. "You're on antibiotics for the wounds on your back and your foot has been pinned and placed, but you're OK." He continued and put his hand on her opposite shoulder.

"King?" She asked again. She wanted to know his injuries, if he was alive. There was a problem in her mind, and there probably always would be because after the last few days, the ones where she could remember at least, the last still in the cell. He'd been injured too.

"He's fine. Do you want to see him?" Beth knew Brody well enough to know what she wanted. She really needed to see King, she wanted to know that he really was OK. Beth looked at LaSalle and nodded out of the doorway. "Go get him, I'll stay here."

"Beth." LaSalle was clearly more comfortable with Beth than the last time they'd all been there together. The two of them hadn't seemed to get along at that point, but now they did seem to be there now, where they got along.

"She wants to see him, Chris." Beth pushed, and Brody just stayed laid there, listening to the two of them arguing about her actually seeing King. She wasn't going to sleep again until she did. So eventually, she'd see him anyway.

"Fine." He gave up fighting, and just ended up squeezing Brody's shoulder before he left. "I'll be right back Brody."

Brody watched LaSalle as he left, then she looked at Beth and smiled. She really loved that they had finally started getting along. "You two are getting along. I'm glad." That was exactly what she'd wanted when they met. They had worked along together and managed to save her and King, which was really important for him.

"Yeah, he's a pretty cool dude." That was hilarious. She was very glad that they were doing well, and that they were finally working on a good level. When that came to Beth, she was sure that anyone who didn't know her would think that she was flirting with LaSalle, which Beth then proves to her right away. "Pride thinks something is going on."

"People who don't know how strong you and Ger are tend to get that impression, you' are a bit of a flirt." She had always been a little jealous of Beth and Geraint, when she met them she was still reeling from James leaving her to do his work in Afghanistan. "Plus LaSalle isn't always... discriminating." She'd seen the women whom LaSalle had been interested in before, including the married ones.

"Well. That's the way it goes, sometimes isn't it." Beth smirked and Brody was almost certain that she was gonna hear more about Beth's life than she'd want to. "I've been a good girl though, and honestly LaSalle has been nothing but a gent. You should be focusing on you, anyway."

"I was tortured, not much there I want to focus on." She probably shouldn't have said that, but it was true and she didn't want to think about that anymore. She was really fed up of thinking about it after the last few weeks. Sure, she hadn't been thinking about it the last few days, but she'd also been unconscious.

"OK, you have a point. How are you feeling?" Beth sounded genuinely concerned, and Brody had to try and think of a better way to put it than that she felt like she'd been tortured for two weeks, stabbed and almost killed. It wasn't easy, so she just went the simplest way possible.

"Sore, and tired." She smiled, hoping that Beth couldn't push her for more. When she wasn't interrupted she talked on. "But I gotta see King before I can sleep again." She knew they were doing that, but she was just impatient.

"Alright. He'll be here in a minute." Beth reassured her again, and Brody actually did feel a little better.

She wasn't asleep, but she was dozing when she heard the door was opened. She opened her eyes just as King looked at Beth then came forward. He clearly sounded as concerned about her as she was about him. "She's awake?" He asked, and Brody just smiled to herself.

"And talking." She said before Beth could reply, and a moment later he'd taken her hand and was stood above her, looking at her seriously. She just smiled, glad to see him, despite the greenish yellow bruises all over his face. She doubt her face looked any better, but she couldn't stop herself commenting.

"Hey. You look like crap." She lifted her other hand up and placed it against his cheek. She worried about his pushing himself too far, which was something she'd seen him do on far too many occasions.

"Speak for yourself." He laughed, pressing his face a little more to her hand. She really loved that he was staying next to her there. She felt better with that.

"I know I look like crap." She smiled, because she was that self aware. She was glad that he still didn't move away from her hand. "I just needed to see you before I slept." She smiled keeping hold of his hand and the other one against his cheek, that was when he turned his head and kissed her hand.

"Well you've seen me, go back to sleep if you're tired." He was good at making her feel like she was being ridiculous. She needed to fall asleep, and then maybe the next time she woke up she'd be a little happier and a little less confused.

"I will, you'll be here when I wake up?" She needed to ask, because she desperately wanted to see him again.

"Right down the hall. I promise." He leant forward and kissed her gently then pulled away, still holding her hand for a second.

"Good." She mumbled and settled herself back down. Right now he was in the same room, and either way she had good friends around her, she was home and she was safe. Those were things she was never, ever going to take for granted again. This was the first time in weeks that she hadn't been afraid that everything was about to be ripped away from her, or that she wasn't going to wake up at all. Somehow she'd made it, they'd both made it, and now it was time she start moving on.


	22. Chapter 22

**So Brody is awake and now Pride is being released. I'm glad you're all liking this.  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day Twenty One**_

It seemed like the doctor was just going to keep repeating himself until Pride told him that he understood the conditions of his release, but all that was happening was that Pride was getting more anxious about leaving this room and walking the ten metres to where Brody was still going to be kept. So right now he wasn't answering the questions in a way that was actually helping. "You understand the instructions?" Was asked again, and Pride had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes.

"Come back if the cough gets any worse or I begin to experience chest pain." He rattled off, just to prove that he had actually been paying attention. He hadn't had any chest pain to begin with, and the cough had been getting better. He had been sent home with industrial strength antibiotics to kick the last of the infection, and he really hoped that would do it.

"Alright. See you again Agent Pride." The doctor didn't seem to notice exactly how that goodbye sounded, but it amused him nonetheless. He really hoped that the doctor here didn't see him again, especially given that this was pulmonology, it really would not be where he wanted to be.

"Hope not." He responded, and watched as the doctor grimaced a little. Why wasn't it surprising that he hadn't thought, and only realised how bad it sounded when someone went back at him about it. He didn't give the doctor time to say anything, but just walked right out of the room and almost knocked someone down as he did. Beth Callahan managed to right herself before she actually fell over.

"I guess you're going down to MB's room." She asked, and Pride found that he actually quite liked how she just jumped into a conversation without any of the usual pleasantries. He wasn't sure if it was her background or just generally her that caused that, but once you got used to it, it was interesting. He would be quite glad when she went home though.

"I was thinking about it." He admitted, but they both knew that would be where he went as soon as he could. He wouldn't have to go back to his own room tonight either, he could just stay there with Brody.

"Her mother just left, so it's a good time." Callahan smirked, and he realised that she'd known exactly why he'd been debating rather than just going for it. He had fallen for Brody, but her mother was still gonna need some getting used to. More than a little, but not a massive amount.

"Coming back tomorrow?" He might as well know if he would need to prepare for the inevitable questioning now that he was a free man again. He would be happy to know that it was coming, at least, before he ended up saying something he'd regret.

Callahan shook her head, and he cocked his head in question. "Leaving back to Michigan, at Merri's urging." That was unsurprising, it had taken less than 24 hours for Brody to have been driven dotty by her mother. Now they knew that Brody was going to be fine it probably wasn't that surprising that she had managed to talk he mother into going home. At that moment Callahan motioned over her shoulder and shrugged apologetically. "I need to go see to my children. Glad to see you free, Pride."

"Thanks to you, Callahan." He had to admit, she had gone above and beyond in trying to find where he and Brody had been held. He knew that it wasn't unheard of, but it was unusual, so he was still thankful that they'd been found before the worst had happened.

"Don't you forget it." Callahan smirked, then stopped and turned to him before she spoke again. He didn't know what she was originally going to say, as she opened and closed her mouth a couple of times before finally saying anything. "See you tomorrow?"

"Probably." He admitted and smiled as she turned and headed out, while he headed back toward Brody's room. For the first time since they'd been here he didn't need to be thinking about the nurses and doctors watching as he went in. He was allowed in with her now, and he didn't have to sneak around.

"Hey King." She said with a huge smile on her face. He was happy to see that, and to hear her voice stronger than when she'd spoken the previous day. He was glad to know that she was calmer and clearer, and also sat up so probably in less pain.

"Hey, nobody else here?" He asked, wondering where Christopher was, or Callahan's husband, who had become somewhat of a personal doctor for Brody while she was here. Since he already knew Callahan herself had left the grounds he didn't need to ask about her.

"LaSalle got conned into driving my mom to the airport, Ger has gone doing doctorly things to my last set of test results and I have no idea where Beth is." At least two of his questions were answered, and he would be able to answer where Callahan was. But that didn't matter now, what mattered was them. "Loretta was here earlier though." Brody smiled, and he realised that she was still surprised people cared enough her to come visit her.

"I just saw Callahan, she's going collecting her kids from wherever they are now." He smiled giving her that information, and then Pride just nodded, he'd known Loretta wanted to visit, but had been holding off until Brody was awake, so it wasn't that surprising that she had been one of the first people to visit. Maybe it would also get Sebastian off his call sheet too. "Loretta said she'd come down to see you, I'm glad she did. She can tell Sebastian to stop calling me asking how you are."

"They're all just glad we made it home." That was very true too, he knew they were. He was too. He hadn't been sure they'd both make it home, or that either of them would. But he tried not to focus on that now. He didn't need to. They were both here. Clearly, Brody was thinking along the same lines as he was. "I'm glad we made it home."

He leant forward and kissed her cheek before doing anything else. He couldn't help but want to do something that reminded her they were both there, and they were both happy. He was certain that she didn't need the reminder, but he gave it anyway. "I'm glad now you're awake. Do you remember it?" He knew the doctors had thought that she might only remember bits, if any, of what happened. He kind of hoped she didn't remember much at all.

"Bits. Some things are still pretty blank." She shook her head, and he decided he didn't want to press. She remembered what she remembered, and he wasn't going to burden her with any more than she needed to know. "My doctor is setting me up with a psychologist he wants me to talk too."

"Yeah, mine did that too." He'd actually enjoyed the couple of conversations he'd had with the psychologist, Pride could kind of understand her reticence, but he knew that he should probably try and convince her to talk. "I'll probably keep seeing him for a while."

"Really?" She asked, apparently extremely surprised. Did he seem like he wasn't the type of person who would see a therapist? He knew that there were times in life when getting some help to work through something was the best idea. This was definitely one of those times.

"We were held captive and tortured for two weeks, Merri." He said as if that was the most obvious explanation in the entire world. "I need a little help processing all that, and you should talk to them too." He pushed again, not entirely sure that was the best way to do it, but he'd try.

She looked at him frowning, and as he looked at her he noticed a hint of fear inn her expression. "But I don't remember, most of it, and I'm scared that if I think too much about it then I'll start to remember." That would account for it, and he couldn't really blame her. His memories were bad enough for the both of them, and in some ways he hoped she didn't get most of them back. "Then I'll have to face it, and I'm not strong enough for that." Her voice broke at the end, and he just stood up and wrapped his arms around her, holding her loosely.

"Yes you are, babe. Yes you are." He knew that she was. She was one of the strongest, most stubborn people he had ever had the pleasure of knowing, and she had kept him going in the darkest of moments in that place. "You were the one who kept me strong through it all, you're the one who made sure I didn't give it up. I'll be here every step of the way to help you through the recovery. Every step of the way."

"I don't know if I can do it, even with help. I don't trust myself not to break down." He could feel a path on his chest where her cheek was resting, and he realised that she was crying. She might not trust herself, but he knew that she could do it. Sure she might break, but he'd catch her, and help her fix herself.

"Do you trust me?" He asked, letting her pull back a little so she could see his eyes as he spoke. This was something they needed to get through together. He wasn't sure they could do it alone.

"Forever." She replied, and that was a start, he kissed her forehead then wrapped his arms back around her, wanting to keep hold of her right now. Now that he could.

"Then let me help you, if you break, I'll help you put yourself back together. You're not going through this alone." The last thing he was going to do was let her think she was in this alone. "I love you." There was almost certainly a better time for him to say that, but this had seemed like the perfect time to remind her of that. The last time he'd said it they'd both thought they were going to die. This was a nicer time all round, as they were both going to survive, he would make sure of that.


	23. Chapter 23

**This chapter is mostly just funny.  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day Twenty Two**_

LaSalle still wasn't quite sure how he'd managed to get King to leave. He was fairly sure that Brody demanding he leave to at least get a shower was part of it. He really needed a shower too, so that was helpful, and made her feel a lot better than he'd expected. "It's nice to be back." King said as he walked through the doorway to the office. It had been more than 3 weeks since the last time King had been here.

"Are you going to stay home?" He asked. It wouldn't matter what he said or not, LaSalle was certain that King was gonna be asleep for a while. Over the last three weeks King had been through hell, and this would be the first night where he could sleep in his own bed.

"I'm going to consider it." King admitted, and that was exactly what he needed. But it wouldn't surprise LaSalle to find him asleep within the next five minutes, or arrive in the morning and find out that he hadn't slept at all. It was going to be one or the other, of that he was certain. He hoped that King slept.

"King." He chastised, not sure if it would accomplish what he wanted, but he hope that it worked. He was now way too tired himself to care what King was going to do.

"Fine, I'm going to stay home." King complained, and it made LaSalle shake his head. There was something different about all that.

"I can always stay here?" He offered, thinking that if King didn't want to stay alone then he could stay and help, whether that be by letting him talk, or just by being there so he wasn't on his own. It would be easier to keep an eye on him if he wasn't there.

"Go home, Christopher. I'm fine." King reassured him, and that was when LaSalle realised that, as always, his friend was thinking about others, not himself. Was King actually fine? LaSalle had no idea, but right now it actually didn't matter. King was telling him to go.

"Good." He left, and managed to drive home without crashing or speeding, both of which were achievements right now. For the first night in three weeks LaSalle was actually feeling good. His friends were both alive, and would both survive, so he could actually relax and be calm. Which meant that he was actually looking forward to sleeping in his own bed, rather than in a hospital room or the office. It seemed like forever since he'd actually been at home. He fell almost straight into bed when he got home, and was asleep within minutes.

That was until his phone started ringing. He didn't even look at the time, or who was calling. He mumbled something completely unintelligible, and was just about waking up when a female voice snapped at him. It took him a moment to understand what she'd said. " _Do you know where your boss is?_ "

"Hello to you too Beth. Good morning?" He replied hoping she caught his question about the time, still not really sure why she was calling. She wouldn't have called him for no reason, especially not since she'd been as happy for him and King to leave the hospital as he himself had been.

" _It's 3am that is not morning that's 'I'm not drunk enough to sleep yet'._ " She had a strange thought process, and a few oddly connected stories. When it came to being that time in a morning he actually had to agree. When he was out, 3am was barely time to come home, let alone go to sleep.

"Why are you calling me at 3am?" He decided to ask the proper question, not about what she meant. Given that she was, as far as he'd learnt, teetotal and not at all likely to refuse sleep when she had the option. That was why her calling him this early was strange.

" _Pride, do you know where he is?_ "

He rolled his eyes. The last place he knew King was was the office. Where King lived and where he'd dropped him to go to bed. "The office, I dropped him off there hours ago."

" _You might have thought you did, but you didn't. I just woke up in Merri's room and almost had a heart attack._ "

"Shit, he told me he was fine in the office." He groaned and rubbed his hand over his eyes. Trying to will his brain into working with him. Right now the combination of the voice on the other end of the phone and the knowledge his friend needed help was what kept him awake. Otherwise he'd be unconscious again by now.

" _My guess would be - he lied._ "

"I'll be there soon." he would have to sit up. But he would be there. King wouldn't do himself any favours by staying in the hospital. "Why don't you go back to your hotel and I'll sort him out."

" _OK, it's been a long time since I've had cardio at 3am when I've not been at work, I should thank him._ " Callahan's laugh made him chuckle, and helped convince him that getting out of bed was a good idea. She'd just keep putting unwanted mental images in his head if he didn't.

"That was a sad and disturbing look into your personal life." He couldn't help but laugh. Something about the way that was said and how he was feeling right this minute made that seem far funnier than it was. "I'll see you in the actual morning." He told her, hoping she'd be gone by the time he got there. He was sure she would be.

He hung up the phone and hoped that Callahan actually did exactly what he'd suggested. She hadn't spent that much time with her family since they'd arrived, and if she could only spend a few hours with them, it would no doubt help all of them. It wasn't her job to deal with King and Brody anyway, that was his. He was happy to deal with them, but he could have done with a few more hours of sleep. As it was he stood up and got out of bed, pulling his clothes toward him he knew that he was going to have a very grumpy boss when he got to the hospital.

Walking in to Brody's room it was obvious that King had been here for a reason. What reason it was LaSalle had no idea, but there was almost certainly something and he wanted to find out. "King, you were supposed to stay at the office."

"Yeah only I didn't want to." King could be stubborn and pigheaded when he wanted to be, this was clearly one of those times.

"I never would have guessed that from the fact you're not at the office." That was somewhat obvious, and things would be very different if they were at work, but all LaSalle could think was to be sarcastic in response.

"I can't sleep there, Christopher." There was something in King's voice that told him that anyone but the woman who was asleep a few feet away would not be what he needed. King just looked aggravated and uncomfortable, and that didn't bode well for them. LaSalle just wanted his friends to be OK. "I can't be alone there right now. I need her with me."

"Alright, you can stay." He gave in, because with that he knew that there wasn't going to be any further explanation than that. "I'll see if they can bring you a cot in."

"Thanks." King said, clearly happy that he didn't need to explain any more than that. LaSalle wasn't sure he'd even be able to explain.

"What's going on?" Came a mumbled question from the direction of the bed, and that was when he realised they must have woken Brody up. Probably not that surprising given that they were in her room, and they hadn't exactly troubled to keep their voices down.

"Shush, Merri, go back to sleep." King replied quietly, moving closer to the bed again. It was obvious that Brody was happy that King was there given the huge smile on her face when he spoke.

"You're here." She muttered sleepily, reaching for King's hand. It was touching to see, and it was obvious that Brody desperately needed King's support right now, something King clearly wasn't against giving either.

"Of course I am babe." King leant over her, and LaSalle just turned to the door and looked at his friends. Clearly a lot had changed between them in the last few weeks, but things had been heading that way already long before they'd been taken by those people, to that place. Whatever they had had just become more obvious now. LaSalle was quite happy about that, and he wanted his friends to be happy, especially if it was together. They both deserved to be happy, and if they were happy together then so be it.


	24. Chapter 24

**This chapter was fun to write. Much thanks to my writing partner-in-crime PinkAngel17 who wrote Beth's goodbye note which was the whole basis for this chapter.  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day Twenty Three**_

Brody was sat with her boys, and she was finding herself happier to be here. Pride was holding her hand tightly, while LaSalle was at the end of the bed making stupid faces at her while they all talked. She was returning LaSalle's teases when a mane of bushy brown hair came through the door just a second before Beth's face. "Hey, I'm just sticking my head in to say goodbye."

"You're leaving?" She asked, at least a little bit surprised, but simultaneously not at all surprised. She was glad to know that her friend was doing good, and still settled in New York. She really should have been better at staying in touch, but she wasn't. She would be now. Beth and LaSalle were the reason she was still alive. She was sad that Beth was leaving before they got chance to properly catch up.

"Yeah." Beth smiled sadly, clearly understanding what Brody was thinking. "I gotta get my brood back to New York, besides, it's been a week and you're conscious now." That was a cheery thought. Would she have stayed longer if she wasn't conscious? It didn't really matter at this point. The only thing that mattered was that she'd stayed this long.

"Thanks for staying Bethy." She said seriously. Using a nickname that she'd picked up from Beth's husband all those years ago. She'd discovered since that it had been a nickname given to her by her brothers, and that it annoyed Beth no end to actually be called that. Brody had always enjoyed winding people up that way.

"Gods it's been forever since someone called me that." She smiled, once again shaking her head. Brody had gotten herself used to not being teased the same way, the only person who teased her that way anymore was LaSalle. "Remind me to never let you speak to my brothers. You'll use a million bad nicknames."

"I'll call you soon." She smiled, and this time she actually would. They'd said that to each other a dozen times, but this time she meant it, and she was sure that Beth would have meant it too.

"For sure." Beth smiled, then looked at Pride with a smile, holding her hand out toward him. "I'm glad we could rescue you SSA Pride." There was something about the way that Beth said that that made Brody smirk. Unsurprisingly, Beth had that same kind of smile on her face that she would wear whenever she was making a joke with herself.

"I'm glad you could. It was nice meeting you SSA Callahan." Pride replied, the look and Beth's internal joke clearly going right over his head. Not that she blamed him for that. He didn't know Bethan Callahan at all, and she was a very subtle woman.

"Same, and you." She inclined her head with another smile, then turned toward LaSalle. Brody was glad that Beth had managed to bond with LaSalle while working together. They'd needed to do something, to make sure that LaSalle didn't explode from worry, of that she was certain. "It was nice to work with you Chris."

Clearly, LaSalle felt the same, which amused Brody in a way. She wasn't sure LaSalle liked working with anyone in the FBI. Though, he didn't seem to dislike the FBI as much as he did the DEA. "Hope we can work together again Beth."

"Probably. Louisiana has as much terrorism as any other state." Beth replied, and all three NCIS agents just stared at her for a moment. While it was a valid observation, Brody didn't think any of them really wanted to think about terrorists in Louisiana right then.

"That's a comforting thought." Pride was the first one to think of something to say. Somehow Brody wasn't surprised by that. She was actually glad that he'd said something. She didn't want Beth to go away thinking that she'd offended all of them, when really she just didn't want to think about it.

"What can I say, that's my job. Oh, there's a note in the bag Merri, wait til I'm gone to read it." The fact that Beth had specified waiting kind of made her want to rip it open right now. She would be patient though, and would wait until Beth had left, and then probably wait until the boys begged her to do it. "See you all again." Beth said to them, and then they saw her walk into the arms of her husband right out of the doorway.

Pride grinned as she left and nodded after her, Brody hoped he wasn't about to say something that would annoy her, because she wasn't in the mood to kick his ass. She would if she needed to though. "She is quite the character." Was what he said instead, and she was glad she wasn't going to have to kick him.

"That was my only thought after we first worked together." It had been an experience, and one that she wouldn't change for the world now. "She's amazing at her job though."

"Now, are you going to read her note?" LaSalle asked, and Brody was a little proud of him that he'd managed to wait so long before bugging her about it. She remembered a situation a few months earlier where she had had a card with some flowers, and at that point he had had no patience at all.

"You just want to know what she said." She teased, almost certain LaSalle just wanted to know if there was anything said about him in there, or any other type of information for him. Brody was already pretty sure she knew what her friend would have written. Especially in a situation like this.

"Yes." At least he admitted to why he wanted it. That was something. She was a little proud of him for that. Normally he would argue.

"So do I." Pride spoke up out of the blue. For a second she just stopped completely before she could think of something to say.

"You're not normally so nosy!?" She exclaimed and turned to him. She was so very confused at that. At least he was joining in with teasing her now, which was a welcome return.

"I'm intrigued." Pride shrugged, and she rolled her eyes, somewhat unsurprised that eventually he'd jumped aboard the 'nosy' train.

"Fine. Fine." She held her hand out for the card, and smiled widely as Pride handed it to her, then took hold of her hand again, just like he'd been sat every day since she'd come round.

" _MB, You're one ahead on the 'Torture' but I'm still leading on 'Shots Landed'. Until next time, BC._ " She read aloud between fits of giggles. The two men looking more and more confused the harder she laughed. Only Beth would remember a 6 year old joke and finally get her revenge.

Pride looked at her completely confused, and she just laughed a little at the expression on his face. Looking up LaSalle had a similar one on his face. "What the hell?"

"It's a reference to the message I left her when I left Alaska." The note she'd left in Alaska had actually been a lesson in abuse and annoyance. It had been all in good fun though, and it had made sense to them at the time. "Hers is nicer and contains less death threats than mine did."

"Reckon she still has a copy?" LaSalle asked with a grin. She wasn't surprised that that had been the first thing that he'd thought of. She doubted it would make sense to anyone else now. Possibly wouldn't make sense to them either. It had been almost 6 years.

"Christopher no!" She hadn't called him Christopher once in the year since she'd come to New Orleans, she'd always picked some sort of annoying pet name to call him. She had known she'd need to pull it out at some point when he was considering doing something that would embarrass her greatly. She'd been right.

"You just called me Christopher." He had stopped in the middle of whatever he'd been about to do while Pride was sat beside her silently dying laughing.

"Made you stop, didn't it?" She replied with a smirk. It was definitely something she was happy about. She'd made him forget what he'd been doing.

"You're rubbing off on her." LaSalle said looking at Pride, and that was the moment that Brody ended up doubled up laughing. She could help the rather dirty and inappropriate thought that was running through her mind, she blamed that fact that she'd been thinking something like that already and then that she and Pride had made some jokes like that before any of this had started.

"You were just about thinking something really inappropriate, weren't you?" Pride asked, looking at her with a smile. She couldn't help but keep laughing. She just really loved that just from the way she laughed Pride knew what she was thinking, and that he just kept hold of her hand anyway. It made her feel so much happier to know that he was there, even when she was thinking inappropriate thoughts.


	25. Chapter 25

**And here is the beginning of the end (of this fic only).  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Day Twenty Four**_

He hadn't expected Brody being at home to be as hard as it was on him. He laid on his bed staring at the ceiling, wondering if she was alright, or if she was thinking about him as much as he was about her. It seemed pathetic that he was just laid here worrying about her given that she was a grown woman. After a while he eventually gave up and jumped in the car, driving clear across the city to see her, because he just couldn't take laying there not knowing how she was doing. He ran up the steps to the door and wrapped lightly on the glass, waiting a few minutes for her to get to the door, then said the most imaginative greeting he could come up with. "Hey."

"Hey there." She replied with a smile, he wondered if she knew why he was here, or if she realised that he had only come here after he'd debated it for what felt like hours. "I didn't expect you to be here?" There was a hunt of a question in the way she said that, and he had to think of something on the spot that sounded a little more suave than just that he was thinking about her and he wondered if she was alright.

"I didn't want you to spend your first night home alone." It seemed like something he'd think about, and worry about. Sure he had an ulterior motive, but in broad strokes he was being completely accurate. He worried about her being alone, and in reality, he worried about himself being alone. He hadn't been alone yet, not really, and he wasn't ready to be.

"Well. I'm not." Oh, she had a guest, he managed to refrain from looking over her shoulder, but clearly she picked up the moment of panic that he'd gone through. At least the grin on her face made him think that she had. "Not anymore at least, come in." She shuffled back enough for him to come through the door and turn back to her grin. She'd gotten him, he admitted that.

"I worried for a minute there." He smiled then leant forward and kissed her cheek. As he pulled back he was surprised to see a hint of a blush on her cheeks. It amuse him in a sad and vaguely pathetic way, but at least that was all he'd caused her. There was no doubt still a lot she couldn't do, not even counting the cast on her foot. "How you holding up?"

"It's weird being home, quiet." He knew what she meant. Most of the reason he hadn't been able to cope at the office alone was that it was so quiet. Quiet could sometimes be good, but not right now. Right now in the quiet all he could do was picture what could have been, and he then had to check himself over, and he'd had the urge to call her every time.

"That's why I still haven't be back to the office. To sleep at least." He felt like clarifying the last was for the best. He had been back to the office. A few times now. he just hadn't managed to sleep there yet. He just hadn't been able to get to sleep when he'd gone there. He'd always ended up too wired, he'd put music on, or he'd gone back to the hospital and sat in her room.

"Really?" She asked as she sat on the sofa, either having trouble believing him, or having trouble believing that Chris would let him get away with not sleeping in his own bed. It hadn't mattered reeally though. He'd gone where he wanted.

He smirked a little, remembering the arguments that had been caused by his refusal to stay at the office. Especially in the first couple of days when no doubt Chris got phone calls from Callahan telling him that Pride had turned up there again."Christopher tried to make me, but I ended up back at the hospital, with you." He had always just wanted to be near her. It made him feel better.

"I remember that, the night after I regained consciousness." That was good, as he hadn't been sure how much from the first few hours of the days after she woke up she'd remember. Even the doctors hadn't been able to quote them statistics on that. So knowing she knew he was there was huge. "Beth set you up on a cot in the corner of the room."

"Yeah. That's the one." He grinned, finally sitting beside her. He sat close, but with still enough distance between them that if she wasn't comfortable she could reverse away from him a little. That was definitely something that he knew was important, especially after everything that they'd both been through recently.

"I felt better, knowing you were in the room." She admitted, and he noticed that the blush was once again rising on her cheeks. It made him smile to see that. He hadn't seen her blush in the months since she'd joined their office, now he'd seen it twice in the space of just a few short minutes. "I got used to you being there with me."

"You have no idea how hard it was for me to be in a different room to you." Or maybe she did. He wasn't sure given that he didn't know if she had actually been without him much in the days since they'd been rescued. "I needed to see you, hear you, to feel like I was in control."

"I know what you mean." She nodded, and reached out to take his hand, threading her fingers between his and smiling. He felt better knowing that she felt the same as he did. "I guess after two weeks in that place it was natural to be together." She had a point there. They had been together in one of the most challenging situations there was, and of course a bond was going to have formed, but he had wanted to be that close to her before everything.

"Psychologically, yeah, probably." He agreed, then looked her over while squeezing her hand. He wasn't sure how this was actually working and how he was actually hearing. Once she'd come round and her mother had taken control he hadn't learnt much. He knew that her mother had left when she was discharged, which was why she was alone tonight. It just meant he could ask if she was healing well without it sounding awful. "You're all healed up?"

"Mostly. I'm gonna be struggling with my foot for a long time." That didn't surprise him, and he tried not to think about the sound of her pain-dulled voice explaining what was going on with her broken and crushed foot. That had been the hardest and most emotionally breaking moment of their whole captivity, mostly because he had had to face the pain she was in. "They repaired it well though, and as soon as the cast is off I'll be starting physical therapy on it." That was good to hear, but he didn't need to know the timescale, other than that she'd eventually be back on his team.

"So I won't need to have you on desk duty indefinitely?" He asked with a smile. She tapped the back of his hand lightly and laughed loudly. Of course she could laugh about all of this, and know that he wasn't going to think she was laughing as a coping mechanism. Neither of them needed to laugh about what they'd been through, it seemed weird enough now they were home so as to be its own joke already.

"No, I'll be back kicking the asses of our suspects before too long." She sounded as confident as he felt, and that meant that he knew she was determined to be back kicking ass with the rest of the team just as soon as she physically could be. He shouldn't have been surprised by that.

The truth was that having her back in the field would help a lot of things that needed to change. He knew that the third in their team would be glad to know that she'd be back with them before long. "Good, I'm sure Christopher has missed that."

"You healed up?" She asked looking at him, turning back his earlier question on him. He was impressed by her skill, he hadn't seen that coming at all. He didn't feel like he'd suffered anything nearly as bad as she had, and he felt a little bad complaining about what minor injuries he had suffered.

"Other than the antibiotics I'm still taking for the pneumonia I'm doing well." The pneumonia was painful, but what she'd been through was far worse, and he hated that really. "No worse for wear."

"Good, I'm happy about that." She smiled, then looked at him aghast and he wondered what had caused her to take a moment. He'd kind of just assumed she'd been told about his status, but apparently nobody had told her about his condition. "Wait pneumonia?"

He just grimaced realised that there wasn't a lot from those days that couldn't have caused them some sort of problem, that was the one that was by far the worst on his part. He hadn't realised that pneumonia was as painful as this was, and it was caused by inhaling water. "From the water thing."

"Oh, yeah." She suddenly seemed to remember that that had been something she' been forced to witness. He was watching her when she looked down and squeezed her eyes shut, then she started to shake a little. "When I close my eyes I feel like I'm still there."

"We're not there anymore." He wrapped his arms around her and peppered her hairline with as many kisses as he possibly could. He didn't want her to think about that place, or any of the things they had been forced to go through there. He wanted her to focuse on the fact they had survived. "We're home, and we're free."

"Did you really believe that whole time that we were gonna make it?" She asked him, and he only really had one answer to that, because he'd needed to believe that they would both make it through the experience, no matter what.

"I had no choice but to believe." He kissed her cheek as she settled down on the pull-out that she had clearly made up since she couldn't make it up the stairs to her bed. He was worried about her, but he knew she needed to sleep, and if she was tired he should stop talking. "I should let you sleep."

"Please don't leave?" She almost begged. The terror in her voice enough for him to just curl up on the pull-out sofa with her, wrapping his arms around her. He didn't realise that she hadn't been to sleep yet because she'd been afraid, but after that reaction there was really no other explanation. He wasn't going to leave her to face the demons alone.

"Not until you ask me to." He made that promise, almost certain that she wouldn't be ready for him to leave until she asked, and he certainly wasn't going to be ready to go until that point. He didn't want to even begin thinking about leaving her until she was ready, and that meant her telling him.

"Thank you." She muttered and wrapped her arms around him. He just held her a little tighter, glad to know that she was OK and would eventually recover fully. After the last few weeks he was just glad to know that neither of them were left permanently disabled from their time held captive. They both carried scars, they always would, and the idea of being apart now was more painful than anything done in that dreary room. But the most important thing was the thing he was going to celebrate. They made it home.


	26. Chapter 26

**This is the last of LaSalle's chapters. So enjoy my last little look in his head. I found him very hard to write, it wasn't at all natural to me to write him. So I hope he's come across alright.  
Shin xx**

* * *

 **One Week Later**

LaSalle was stood in a brightly decorated office. The decorations came courtesy of Laurel, who would be around later. As it was he was with Loretta, Sebastian and Patton waiting on King and Brody arriving. LaSalle wasn't sure why Brody was coming other than that she needed to get out of the house. Not that he could blame her, he hated being locked in the house. "Are you sure they are ready to be back at work, Christopher?" Loretta asked after a few minutes of waiting.

"I'm not the one who made that decision." He would have told them to stay off. Washington could send a couple more agents to help, but they had decided to come back. Brody just doing paperwork, while King was on light duty. "Apparently King was driving Brody mad, and when he said he was going back to work she demanded to come back on desk duty too."

"It'll be nice, not being the only disabled person around here, even if it's only temporary." Patton said with a huge grin.

"That would be your first thought." Sebastian muttered, and LaSalle looked at Loretta for a moment wondering if he was going to have to separate the two of them. He hoped not, because it would just be awkward.

"Hey, y'all can walk without aids so you don't get to judge me." Patton shot back, and instead voluntarily moved to the other side of Loretta. There was a point though, none of them knew what it was like to be in Patton's shoes, so they really couldn't judge him at all.

"He has a point." He said to the three others, and it said a lot that nobody disagreed with him. Clearly they all needed to let go of the silly squabbles, and they were trying. Like any group of people who worked together there were plenty of squabbles, but they had ignored them all for weeks, they should keep them away.

"We should just be glad they both survived to make it back to work." Loretta commented after a while, and LaSalle wasn't entirely sure what she'd been thinking about that brought that comment up, but he couldn't blame her. She was entirely right. They almost didn't both make it back, and he was going to always be a little guilty about how close it had been cut.

"That's true enough." Sebastian echoed a moment later, and they all lapsed into silence again. Just waiting, thinking about the last month. It had been an experience for all of them, one that he never wanted to repeat.

They all turned at the same moment, just in time to see King give Brody a gentle kiss and smile at her. It seemed they all decided not to comment on the kiss and just be glad that they'd made it, just as Loretta had said. "Hey, look who is here." King said as he turned and started to help Brody in, but after a second she shrugged his hand off.

"I'm alright, I can get to my desk alone." She smiled at him, then limped over, her foot still in the heavy cast. LaSalle moved toward King while the others swarmed around Brody. He would wait and say hello once the others had. He'd seen her in the hospital, they hadn't. So they'd worried a little more than he had. Besides he needed to tease King.

"You two look cosy." He commented, sidling up beside King. He grinned as King looked at him shocked, but was it really that much of a surprise. Of course he'd picked up on how close they were outside the hospital after the amount of time he'd spent trying to get King to stay in his own room. "Have you been back here since she got home?"

"No, I've been staying there. She needs the help." That was a convenient excuse, and LaSalle was definitely going to keep teasing him about it. It seemed like the only thing he'd ever do, and he was sure that they'd all just want to get back to normal.

"Does she really need the help?" He asked with a smirk, but he quickly realised that in some ways this really wasn't something he should be joking about. Brody was still badly injured, and rather weak. "I'm kidding. I know she does."

"We both do." King said, looking over at Brody then back to LaSalle. "We spent the best part of two weeks locked in a room together. I got used to having her there." That made sense. It was something LaSalle maybe couldn't understand, but it did make sense. "When I fall asleep, if I can touch her I remember that we both survived."

"How does she feel about it?" He nodded in the direction of their friend. Certain that she probably felt the same way as King, but he still needed to look out for her.

"The first night home I told her that I'd stay until she asked me to leave." King would want to be sure that Brody was alright, LaSalle knew that, but at least Brody was in control. Judging by how cosy they'd looked he wasn't sure she'd be asking him to leave any time soon. "So far she hasn't, and whenever we've been out she asks me if I'm going home."

He just smiled, glad that it seemed that neither of them had been completely broken by all of this. He wasn't sure if he'd be strong enough to come back to this job after going through what they'd been through. "I'm glad that you haven't been broken by this experience. I'm not sure how I'd feel."

"Honestly, I'm still not sure how I feel, and Vance has determined that Brody and I need to see a therapist at least once a week for the next six months." He knew that they had both had to speak to someone before they left the hospital, but he didn't know that Vance thought they would need that much support. LaSalle wasn't sure himself they'd need that much. "I think that might help too. PTSD is going to rear its head eventually."

"For her or you?" He asked. He could understand why it was a concern, but he wasn't sure who was the likely sufferer. He'd long suspected that Brody already had touches of it, especially given what had happened aboard the _Moultrie_ , but she didn't talk about it, so he didn't push.

"Both of us, probably. Maybe you should think about seeing someone too." Clearly King knew more about how guilty he felt that he hadn't found them faster, or suffered with them. He should have done one of them, but he had found them. The idea of talking it over with a stranger was not exactly what he would have chosen.

"Maybe." He had to agree in principle, because he knew that King would keep pushing if he thought that LaSalle needed to talk to someone. Heading that off for now was definitely a good idea.

"You should go say hello." King encouraged as the foursome on the other side of the room broke up, Patton doing whatever he did when he wanted to annoy Sebastian and Loretta approaching the two men. He nodded to Loretta and smiled, then headed toward where Brody was still sitting.

"Hey, if it isn't Chrissy." She teased as he approached her, she then reached up and gave him a gentle hug. He didn't want to squeeze her given that he knew her back had been pretty cut up. So instead he held her loosely then knelt next to her chair.

"You know, only you and my sister call me that." He laughed as he pulled back. His sister had started calling him that when they'd been young, and he'd never quite been able to convince her that it wasn't worth calling him that. Now it was her pet name for him, and in reality, he didn't really mind Brody using it too.

"Well, I am your work sister, so that counts surely?" She smirked a little and sat back, grimacing as she did.

"I'll let you get away with it." He couldn't help but laugh. Glad that it seemed her sense of humour hadn't been at all damaged. He should have known that, at least she wasn't calling him Sally. He'd been worried that would catch on too. "How you doing?"

"I'm getting there." She started, and he just waited for her to expand. "It hurts, everything hurts. But it's healing, things are scarring over."

He wasn't entirely certain he believed her. She seemed a little too flippant, and a bit too fast to brush off his concern. "Brody."

"Honestly, LaSalle, I'm not doing badly." He could tell from the way she said that that she also wasn't doing great. He just looked at her, waiting for her to either expand on that comment or change the subject. "I have nightmares, flashbacks. But he's always there to stop them, just like he was all along." She nodded at King with a small smile, and he realised that his thought before was right. Brody needed King as much as King needed her in the fallout of all of this.

"I'm sorry we didn't find you sooner." He just needed to say those words. She didn't need to believe him, she didn't need to accept them, but he just needed to say them.

"You did all you could, I know that. I trust you, and I trust Beth." He wasn't sure how she had trusted they'd find them, but he was a little gratified to hear that she still trusted them, even after all this. She clearly noticed that he wasn't really entirely believing her, as she reached out and lifted his chin. "You found us before it was too late."

"Barely." He looked down again, not wanting to think again about how closed he'd come to losing his best friends. He hated that he couldn't seem to get over that hump right now. "You nearly died."

"I know. I was there." Her sarcasm just made him glare at her, he really didn't need reminding of that. "Don't blame yourself for not finding us faster, be proud of yourself for finding us at all." She smiled then kissed his cheek. "Now, aren't we having a party. That means cake." She smiled, and he had to let her pull him away. He would probably feel guilty for a long time that he hadn't found his friends before so much had happened that one of them hadn't made it home.


	27. Chapter 27

**This is the penultimate chapter in this fic, and I hope you like it. I have another story to post after this one, that one is called "Remembrances of Things Past".  
Shin xx**

* * *

 **Six Months Later**

Brody still had to use the crutches, but she was hoping to be off even them soon. In the six months since she had made it home from a month of hell and she was still dealing with the after effects. The truth was though, she was healthy and happy. Just in time for the last ray of summer to start setting. She walked around the garden, making sure everything was ready for their guests. When people started arriving she really shouldn't have been surprised when their little family ended up off to one end. King and LaSalle doing whatever they were doing by the barbecue, Sebastian and Patton arguing on the patio and she was stood with Loretta, grateful that her friend spoke to her calmly. "It's nice to see you walking again." Were the first words out of Loretta's mouth, and Brody knew she meant without cast. Merri had to admit it was nice. She just needed to build up the muscle again.

"It's nice to _be_ walking again." She smiled, inviting Loretta to sit on the wall with her. Not that really Loretta had to be invited to do anything, she still owned this house. Focusing on what it was like to be without the cast after six months of various supporting casts and protective boots. She was now finally in her sandals. "I was in the cast for so long that I forgot what it was like to not have it."

"I understand." Loretta smirked in that way she did when she was about to ask something far more personal than would normally be appropriate. Brody honestly didn't mind that, but she could understand why some people were made uncomfortable by the way Loretta acted. "So Dwayne is still here?" She asked, and Brody was confused for a few seconds, and was still going to have to ask for clarification.

"In the house?" She asked, and was unsurprised to see Loretta's nod. The personal smirk had given her away. At least she could confirm that she and Pride had become whatever they were now. Even with the surprise they were planning on announcing today, it seemed like too much for her to believe that they were here. "Yeah. He's all but moved in. I think we have spent one night apart since we got back."

"When was that?" Loretta asked, and Brody had to think. It had been back toward the beginning, and she'd cried all night. It was that night she realised how much she'd grown to love him, and how much having him in her life had changed everything around for her. She never would have imagined permanency with someone a few years ago. After she and James broke up. Now here she was.1

"I don't remember exactly. It was to do with a case though." That answered Loretta's question, and left the consequences of that night out, Loretta didn't need to know them and Brody really wasn't in the mood for announcing that she had gone and literally cried herself to sleep because he wasn't there.

"I'm glad things worked out for you, and for him." The warm and genuine smile on Loretta's face made Brody certain that she really, genuinely, was happy for the two of them. That was a nice feeling, as sometimes she didn't know if anyone they knew professionally was actually happy.

Brody had to smirk as she remembered one person who absolutely wasn't happy about the two of them. She had found it darkly hilarious that he had so many problems with them so far. He was overlooking them all though, and she was pretty sure that they were being given some sort of 'sorry you were tortured' slack about their relationship."Honestly, I don't think that Vance is that happy about it, but considering we were kidnapped and tortured on a case he's overlooking that, and we're not letting our relationship interfere with our job."

"No, you never would." Clearly Loretta knew the two of them, probably more Pride than Brody, but she didn't mind that. At least she had known that neither of them would let their relationship interfere with their jobs, or the cases that they worked together. "How did this happen, actually?" Brody made the assumption that Loretta meat for Pride to be living here which was also their relationship, really.

"He just turned up on the doorstep the night I left hospital and I never asked him to leave." She shrugged, remembering the night and everything since in crystal clear detail. She purposefully allowed that which came before to fuzz and fade. It made it easier to deal with. "So he never left."

"That was the deal?" Loretta asked, and Brody just turned around to where Pride and LaSalle were now arguing with Patton and Sebastian about whatever they had started bickering about earlier. She liked seeing him like that, animated and enjoying time with their friends.

"Yeah." She had actually loved that deal, and the fact that he'd given her the control to begin with. The problem was that right now she couldn't imagine ever asking him to leave, and he wasn't going to leave. "He said he was going to stay until I asked him to leave."

"And you never did?" Loretta asked, and considering that she knew both the people involved in this well, Brody knew she didn't even really actually have to say anything.

"I never had reason to, and I don't want him to." She really didn't, and she couldn't imagine that changing.

"Good. How did everything else heal up?" Loretta asked, something that she knew everyone was excited about learning. Mostly because she knew they were all intrigued by the story of their time incarcerated. She just wanted to forget.

She thought about that for a minute, and decided how best to answer. She hadn't seen her back, she didn't want to, but she remembered the panic attack Pride had had the first time he'd seen them. She'd had to comfort him and remind him she was alive for close to two hours until he was able to sleep. "I have scars, a lot of them, but they healed well. King coughs a lot if he breathes too heavily, but otherwise... to say we were tortured every day for two weeks... neither of us is permanently damaged." That was the luckiest thing about any of this.

"Psychologically?" Loretta pushed, and while Brody understood why she was asking, it was hard to put it into words. There were a lot of emotions going round and around in their heads and it was hard.

"We're doing OK. We both have flashbacks, nightmares. But being together seems to help with that." She was almost certain that there was a reason for that, probably the fact that they had gotten through it together. It was the two of them, and being together afterwards was safe.

"Good. You've had the best outcome possible from something horrific, and I'm happy about that." Apparently, at that moment Loretta noticed the number of people who were trying to get in to speak to Brody and shook her head, squeezing Brody's hands once more. "I should stop monopolising your time, I'll go speak to Dwayne."

"Thanks Loretta, and honestly, you were rescuing me." Brody smiled giving her friend another hug, almost certain that in a few minutes Loretta would have even more questions. "Looks like King is ready to do the announcement we were planning anyway. I'll see you after." She knew that giving this news out at a garden party was definitely a new idea, but she was certain this was the right thing, and the best place to do it. She couldn't really believe what had happened over the last 7 months had led her here, but it had. Now she got to see as her friends learnt about the newest chapter in her life.


	28. Chapter 28

**And here we are, at the end of this particular journey. I promised you a happy ending! Almost makes all the torture worth it, doesn't it.  
Shin xx**

* * *

 **Two Years Later**

Dwayne Pride had been trying to work, but the sounds of his family had kept interrupting him, and he had finally given up. 18 months earlier he and Merri had surprised their friends by tying the knot in a garden ceremony they hadn't given any of them warning about. All for the best, as a few months later Emily and Matthew had made an appearance. So as he listened to his wife and children playing in the garden he fought the desire to join in, until he heard another familiar voice join the cacaphony. That was when he gave up and decided to go and see what they were doing and who had joined. "Hey, I thought I heard you back here?" He smiled, seeing that his suspicions had been confirmed in Bethan Callahan being stood on the back stoop.

"Yeah, I popped in to see if you or Merri wanted to write an impact statement. Given you're the only prisoners left alive." She handed him papers, and he realised that she wasn't here on a social visit. It wasn't surprising, and it wasn't the first time the federal prosecutor had tried to get him and Merri to give a statement. Now he was using a family friend to try and guilt them into it.

"This to be read at the execution?" He asked, even though he knew full well what it was. There was no need that Callahan know she was being used. Though, in truth, she would probably know. She was smart, and normally two steps ahead of everyone else.

"Merri already said she doubted you'd be interested, and she already turned me down." That was probably half of what commotion he'd just heard as he dealt with the paperwork of being the unit chief here. He hated that doing the paperwork often took him away from spending time with his family.

"I think we're both just trying to focus on the progress we've made in the last two years." Surely that was something Callahan understood. 15-months earlier she'd made a decision to do something similar, and they'd been behind her when she'd made that decision.

"I can't believe how big they are getting." Callahan observed, a huge smile crossing her face. She had been there when they were born, in the room with he and Merri, and she was one of the two godmothers. They were both huge, and he knew that it was hard to believe how big they were now. He forgot regularly.

"A year old last week." He smiled and nodded at the twins. Emily was happily toddling around the garden, occasionally turning to them and waving. Matthew however hadn't quite started walking yet, and was clearly happy to be sat on Merri's knee playing with the sand and listening to whatever his mother was telling him.

Callahan shook her head and he wasn't surprised. It didn't seem like that long since they'd made their appearance. "God that went fast." That was something that he could completely agree with. Sometimes he wished it would slow down, just so they'd have more time with their babies. On the other hand, the more time that passed the further behind them they put that place.

"No kidding." He had thought that when Laurel had been growing up, and some days he still thought of her as that sweet, tiny baby he had brought back from the hospital 22 years earlier. He was sure that his ex-wife did the same. It was strange, seeing kids grow up.

"You know, I realised this morning that it was 2 years since I arrived in New Orleans that first time." While he'd been missing, before Merri had been taken. Thinking about that timeline was such an odd experience. It felt like he was giving the evidence rather than being a participant. He wasn't sure if that was healthy or not, but it was what he was doing now.

"Now you live here." He laughed, but he remembered his first meeting with her so clearly, in Merri's hospital room. She'd been so attentive to her friend, and he had known immediately that she was someone he could get on with. He'd given her a hard time at first because he'd still been angry, but she'd forgiven him.

"Under protest, at the time, I think my family like it here now." That had taken a while too. After Callahan's decision to accept a position at the Louisiana FBI offices 15 months ago she had commuted between New Orleans and New York for a few months, then 9 months earlier her family had moved here at the start of the new school year. It had taken time for them to settle. While they both thought that over she smiled slightly then looked up at him with that crooked smile she had so much. "I don't blame you for not wanting to write an impact statement."

"My thought on it is that it's over with. Merri and I survived, we made it home. In the two years since we've gotten married, had our kids." He looked over to where Merri and both the twins were looking at something Emily had pulled out of the sand. He would never regret what had brought them here, even if it was terrible. "She and I were moving toward _something_ before all this happened. It just sped it up. Now I really don't care. The leader is being put to death, the others are serving various terms." He really wasn't sure how talking about it more was going to help any of them. So many had been found guilty and were serving their time. That was enough for him. "Talking about what happened won't help either of us."

Callahan, in the end, just nodded. That was when he realised maybe she was here under pressure a little. No doubt she didn't actually want to be here. Hopefully he had given her an answer that wouldn't get her in trouble with the prosecutor. "That's what I thought. I'll pass it on to the Federal Prosecutor. I take it you still don't want to be there?"

"No. I want to be here." There was only one place he would want to be, and that was right here.

"Good choice. Chris and I will go." Of course LaSalle would go. In the first few months after the incident it had seemed like he was dealing with it far worse than anyone else. Even now he was still the most bitter over it all. Seemingly Beth decided it was time to go. "Give them a hug from me." She nodded in the direction of the twins with a smile.

"You don't wanna see them again. They love to see their Aunty Beth." He smiled in their direction and then looked at her again with a shrug.

"Sorry, I have a brood to get back to, and Ffion's got some school project to do." Beth could not really have sounded less interested in her eldest daughter's homework if she'd tried. There were a lot of things Beth was good at, helping her kids with schoolwork didn't seem to be one of them.

"Barbecue this weekend, cases permitting." He offered. They would always try to do something as a group of Federal agents when they got the chance. They'd invite anyone who was in town and have a small blowout. It was always fun, and it gave them all a chance to relax.

"Ger and the kids will definitely be here, I'll more than likely be here." She shrugged then laughed, clearly fairly sure of her weekend plans already. "See you, Dwayne." She waved as she jogged down the steps from where they'd been standing. He knew that she wouldn't want to put he or Merri through more than they'd already been through, which was probably why he hadn't pushed anything on him. It had been two years, and finally they were happy and settled into family life. He didn't need to relive the past, and whatever that had been was a distant memory. They were wherever they were now, and that was where he wanted to be.


End file.
